5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier opener

BULGE

Yes, BULGE was the Wordle answer on September 6, 2025 (Wordle #1540).

As an opener, it rules out about 91.0% of possible answers.

Open Solver with BULGE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈbʌldʒ//ˈbʊldʒ/

Noun

An object which is sticking out from a surface; a swelling, protuberant part; a bending outward, especially when caused by pressure.

“a bulge in a wall”

Noun

The bilge or protuberant part of a cask.

Verb

To stick out from a surface without breaking it.

“He stood six feet tall, with muscular arms bulging out of his black T-shirt.”

Verb

(of a container, etc.) To have the surface stretched by something pushing out; to swell; to belly.

“The submarine bulged because of the enormous air pressure inside.”

Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.

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

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

Past Wordle answer

Used once

Past Wordle answer: September 6, 2025 (#1540).

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

Wordle Observatory

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About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How BULGE performs as a guess

BULGE is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 78.2% of games, misses completely in 21.8%, and leaves about 212 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #5,063 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.67 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.

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

B___E B in the 1st position and E in the 5th position B__G_ B in the 1st position and G in the 4th position _U__E U in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Try next

ROAST STAIR COAST REPEL SNOUT ROANY
Words starting with B Words ending with E

First-turn measures

4.57 Entropy (bits)
212 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
91.0% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 56% of evaluated openers
1.38 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How BULGE 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.

3.67 Avg guesses
99.9% Win rate
0.70 Volatility
#5,063 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, BULGE ranks #5,063 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
65
3 guesses
869
4 guesses
1,202
5 guesses
202
6 guesses
13
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ELU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
78%
Green tile
35%
All gray
22%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I N G
B U G L E
B U L G E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches BULGE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

104 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

515
344
191
171
116
100
75
70
51
50
45
38
32
27
26
23
22
22
21
20
19
19
19
17
15
15
14
12
12
12

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BULGE:

22% chance
Suggested:
ROAST
15% chance
Suggested:
STAIR
8% chance
Suggested:
ROAST

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

21.8% →
ROAST 6.03 bits
14.6% →
STAIR 5.23 bits
8.1% →
ROAST 5.16 bits
7.3% →
COAST 5.17 bits
4.9% →
REPEL 4.45 bits
4.2% →
SNOUT 5.26 bits
3.2% →
ROANY 5.01 bits
3.0% →
SHART 4.05 bits
2.2% →
SOILY 4.48 bits
2.1% →
SLANT 4.41 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3U1L1G2E1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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