CATER
Yes, CATER was the Wordle answer on March 16, 2022 (Wordle #270).
As an opener, it rules out about 96.5% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈkeɪtə//ˈkeɪɾɚ//ˈkeʈə(ɾ)/
- Verb
-
To provide, particularly
- Verb
-
To provide
“I catered for her bat mitzvah.”
- Noun
-
A method of ringing nine bells in four pairs with a ninth tenor bell.
- Noun
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Synonym of acater: an officer who purchased cates (food supplies) for the steward of a large household or estate.
Alternative forms: catour, cator, kater, chator
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
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: March 16, 2022 (#270).
See the full page for that puzzle: March 16, 2022 (#270).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How CATER performs as a guess
CATER is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 89.3% of games, misses completely in 10.7%, and leaves about 84 possible answers on average.
In the current bounded six-turn policy, it ranks #70 of 182 evaluated openers; exact misses rank first, then average guesses among wins.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #66 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.55 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe CATER 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.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How CATER 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.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches CATER in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
CATER can come back 139 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for CATER; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing CATER
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to CATER.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing CATER:
Research on CATER
Game-tree analysis and word research for CATER, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with CATER, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.58 guesses and ranks #31 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 CATER can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.55, at or below the proven-optimal 3.58, 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
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it KAYTUR.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, CATER is a kind of give or provide.
Synonyms provide supply ply
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- CATER sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 4 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (2.7 of 5).
In a sentence
We cater to you, the customer with refined taste.
This restaurant does not cater for vegans.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).