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

BUMFS

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 81.2% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check BUMFS 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 BUMFS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts BUMFS 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 61.7% of games, misses completely in 38.3%, and leaves about 446 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,875 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.78 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 BUMFS 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.

3.52 Entropy (bits)
446 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
81.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 7% of evaluated openers
2.42 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How BUMFS 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.

3.78 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#10,875 Rank among openers
Opening with BUMFS solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.78 average. It ranks #10,875 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
42
3 guesses
729
4 guesses
1,295
5 guesses
279
6 guesses
9
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
1 vowels
Common:
SU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
62%
Green tile
19%
All gray
38%

Feedback distribution

BUMFS can come back 68 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

910 answers
389 answers
134 answers
121 answers
113 answers
111 answers
89 answers
62 answers
51 answers
43 answers
35 answers
31 answers
19 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
12 answers
9 answers
8 answers
8 answers
7 answers
7 answers
6 answers
6 answers
6 answers
6 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

B3U1M3F4S1
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 15 points

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

Strategy after playing BUMFS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing BUMFS:

38% chance
Suggested:
ARIEL
16% chance
Suggested:
TIARE
6% chance
Suggested:
MORAE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

38.3%
ARIEL 6.07 bits
16.4%
TIARE 5.64 bits
5.6%
MORAE 5.45 bits
5.1%
TRONE 5.35 bits
4.8%
ARIEL 5.49 bits
4.7%
OLATE 5.14 bits
3.7%
LATER 4.63 bits
2.6%
SLANT 4.28 bits
2.1%
TALER 4.96 bits
1.8%
SPATE 4.58 bits

Research on BUMFS

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

Optimal play

Opening with BUMFS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.82 guesses and ranks #11,513 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.93 guesses at best and is rank #4,793 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.78, at or below the proven-optimal 3.82, 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 BUHMFS. Estimated pronunciation

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

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, BUMFS is a kind of reading.

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).