Accepted guess Not a possible answer C tier for first-turn info

BUDES

BUDES is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.

No dictionary definition for BUDES is recorded in our sourced data.

As an opener, it rules out about 91.4% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

We do not have a sourced definition for this word yet.

Check BUDES on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Wordle status

A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

Not used yet

No past answer date found.

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

How BUDES performs as a guess

Wordle accepts BUDES as a guess, but the solver does not list it as a possible answer.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 79.5% of games, misses completely in 20.5%, and leaves about 204 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,175 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.69 guesses in games solved within six turns.

Try your feedback pattern

Tap the tiles to match your feedback, then see the ranked follow-up guesses.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

First-turn measures

All four describe BUDES used as an opening guess. Entropy is the same idea as “avg ruled out” on a log scale: a higher number means the guess splits the possible answers into more, smaller groups.

4.50 Entropy (bits)
204 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
91.4% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 52% of evaluated openers
1.45 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How BUDES performed in the previous complete opener benchmark, against its captured answer snapshot. These research figures are separate from today's solver recommendations. See the data page for the method.

3.69 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#6,175 Rank among openers
Opening with BUDES solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.69 average. It ranks #6,175 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
67
3 guesses
850
4 guesses
1,199
5 guesses
225
6 guesses
13
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ESU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
80%
Green tile
30%
All gray
20%

Feedback distribution

BUDES can come back 97 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

487 answers
312 answers
229 answers
178 answers
152 answers
93 answers
81 answers
74 answers
71 answers
49 answers
47 answers
45 answers
41 answers
38 answers
27 answers
23 answers
22 answers
22 answers
22 answers
19 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
11 answers
10 answers

Letter-value totals

Base letter-value totals for BUDES; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.

Scrabble

B3U1D2E1S1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.

Strategy after playing BUDES

What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to BUDES.

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BUDES:

21% chance
Suggested:
CAROL
13% chance
Suggested:
REATE
10% chance
Suggested:
SLANT

Follow-ups for common patterns

Ranked follow-up guesses for the 10 most common feedback patterns.

20.5%
CAROL 6.01 bits
13.1%
REATE 5.49 bits
9.6%
SLANT 5.14 bits
7.5%
OATER 4.20 bits
6.4%
SLART 4.90 bits
3.9%
DRAIN 5.21 bits
3.4%
COUNT 4.91 bits
3.1%
CLARY 4.24 bits
3.0%
REATE 4.72 bits
2.1%
STUNK 4.13 bits

Research on BUDES

Game-tree analysis and word research for BUDES, with an explanation for each figure.

Optimal play

Opening with BUDES, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #4,702 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

No guaranteed hard-mode solve In hard mode, no strategy that opens with BUDES can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.69, at or below the proven-optimal 3.70, because the two figures score different answer lists.

These figures come from exhaustive game-tree search and are exact for the NYT lists of July 2023 (3,158 answers). They do not use the site's working answer pool.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it BOODZ. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, BUDES is a kind of flower or sprout.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model; Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0).