COULD
Yes, COULD was the Wordle answer on January 29, 2022 (Wordle #224).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /kəd/[kʰəd]/kʊd/
- Verb
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simple past of can
“Before I was blind, I could see very well.”
- Verb
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conditional of can
“I'd have thought you could have done the dishes, at least.”
- Noun
-
Something that could happen, or could be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.
Alternative forms: coulde, couldst, couldest, could'st
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). Cognate with German konnte, Swedish kunde.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it KUUD.
In a sentence
When could I do that?
If I could, I would.
Use COULD in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 91.3% of possible answers.
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: January 29, 2022 (#224).
See the full page for that puzzle: January 29, 2022 (#224).
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 →COULD in Connections
3 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #899
Reveal this appearance's category
COULD appeared in VERBS EXPRESSING POSSIBILITY (yellow group).
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· Puzzle #842
Reveal this appearance's category
COULD appeared in WORDS IN A FAMOUS TONGUE TWISTER (green group).
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· Puzzle #122
Reveal this appearance's category
COULD appeared in CONDITIONAL WORDS (green group).
How COULD performs as a guess
COULD is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 75.7% of games, misses completely in 24.3%, and leaves about 207 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,349 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.61 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 COULD 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 COULD 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 COULD in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
COULD can come back 108 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 COULD; 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 COULD
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to COULD.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing COULD:
Research on COULD
Game-tree analysis and word research for COULD, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with COULD, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.64 guesses and ranks #1,341 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 COULD can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.61, at or below the proven-optimal 3.64, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- COULD sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 1,148 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 A1); among the first words English learners study.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS.