CAUSE
Yes, CAUSE was the Wordle answer on October 24, 2023 (Wordle #857).
As an opener, it rules out about 95.8% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /kɔːz/[kʰo̞ːz̥]/koːz/
- Noun
-
The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result.
“They identified a burst pipe as the cause of the flooding.”
- Noun
-
Sufficient reason.
“There is no cause for alarm.”
- Verb
-
To set off an event or action; to bring about; to produce.
“The lightning caused thunder.”
- Verb
-
To actively produce as a result, by means of force or authority.
“His dogged determination caused the fundraising to be successful.”
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: October 24, 2023 (#857).
See the full page for that puzzle: October 24, 2023 (#857).
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 CAUSE performs as a guess
CAUSE 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 89.4% of games, misses completely in 10.6%, and leaves about 99 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,124 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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 CAUSE 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 CAUSE 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 CAUSE in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
CAUSE can come back 113 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 CAUSE; 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 CAUSE
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to CAUSE.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing CAUSE:
Research on CAUSE
Game-tree analysis and word research for CAUSE, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with CAUSE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,027 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 CAUSE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.66, 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 KAHZ.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, CAUSE is a kind of origin or justification.
Synonyms have do get make case reason
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- CAUSE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 224 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in beginner learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level A2); among the first words English learners study.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (2.5 of 5).
In a sentence
It was a good cause.
I don't know the cause.
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); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).