CLERK
Yes, CLERK was the Wordle answer on May 23, 2023 (Wordle #703).
As an opener, it rules out about 93.2% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /klɑːk//klɝk//klɐːk/
- Noun
-
One who occupationally provides assistance by working with records, accounts, letters, etc.; an office worker.
- Noun
-
A facilitator of a Quaker meeting for business affairs.
- Verb
-
To act as a clerk, to perform the duties or functions of a clerk.
“The law school graduate clerked for the supreme court judge for the summer.”
- Verb
-
To assemble information about a patient during their initial assessment by actions such as a taking a detailed medical history and performing a physical examination.
Alternative forms: clark
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: May 23, 2023 (#703).
See the full page for that puzzle: May 23, 2023 (#703).
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 CLERK performs as a guess
CLERK 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 83.5% of games, misses completely in 16.5%, and leaves about 161 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,428 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.66 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 CLERK 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 CLERK 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 CLERK in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
CLERK can come back 96 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 CLERK; 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 CLERK
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to CLERK.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing CLERK:
Research on CLERK
Game-tree analysis and word research for CLERK, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with CLERK, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.71 guesses and ranks #5,448 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.83 guesses at best and is rank #2,240 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.66, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, CLERK is a kind of employee or worker.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- CLERK sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 10 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 (3.8 of 5).
In a sentence
What did you say to the clerk?
He is a bank clerk.
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).