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

CHAFT

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

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /t͡ʃaf(t)/

Noun

The jaw.

Alternative forms: chaff, chuff

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

Etymology

Inherited from Northern Middle English chaft, from Old Norse kjaptr, kjǫptr, from Proto-Germanic *kefutaz.

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

Use CHAFT in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 89.9% of possible answers.

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

No completed appearance

No appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.

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

How CHAFT performs as a guess

Wordle accepts CHAFT 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 73.8% of games, misses completely in 26.2%, and leaves about 242 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,343 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.

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

First-turn measures

All four describe CHAFT 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.

4.52 Entropy (bits)
242 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
89.9% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How CHAFT 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#3,343 Rank among openers
Opening with CHAFT solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #3,343 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
69
3 guesses
910
4 guesses
1,179
5 guesses
185
6 guesses
11

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
AT

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
74%
Green tile
32%
All gray
26%

Feedback distribution

CHAFT can come back 107 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

624 answers
314 answers
151 answers
112 answers
103 answers
90 answers
76 answers
72 answers
72 answers
55 answers
40 answers
38 answers
37 answers
36 answers
33 answers
32 answers
29 answers
25 answers
25 answers
22 answers
21 answers
21 answers
20 answers
18 answers
17 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

C3H4A1F4T1
Total: 13 points

Words With Friends

Total: 13 points

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

Strategy after playing CHAFT

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing CHAFT:

26% chance
Suggested:
RIONE
13% chance
Suggested:
MARLE
6% chance
Suggested:
SNORE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

26.2% →
RIONE 6.04 bits
13.2% →
MARLE 5.28 bits
6.3% →
SNORE 5.37 bits
4.7% →
SLIDE 4.79 bits
4.3% →
SIREN 5.35 bits
3.8% →
TARTE 4.74 bits
3.2% →
SLIER 5.14 bits
3.0% →
FILER 4.96 bits
3.0% →
IRONE 5.01 bits
2.3% →
HORSE 4.71 bits

Research on CHAFT

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

Optimal play

Opening with CHAFT, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.71 guesses and ranks #5,774 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 CHAFT can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.71, 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.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT).