5 FiveLetterWords
Likely Not used yet B tier for first-turn info

CRONY

CRONY is an accepted guess. Its modelled answer likelihood is likely; no globally completed appearance is recorded here.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈkɹoʊni//ˈkɹəʊni/

Noun

A close friend.

Noun

A trusted companion or partner in a criminal organization.

Alternative forms: chrony

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

Etymology

Coined between 1655 and 1665 from Ancient Greek χρόνιος (khrónios, “perennial, long-lasting”); see also chrono- (“time”). Initially Cambridge University slang, in sense of “chum”, as “friend of long standing”, with illegal connotation later. Early spellings included chrony, as in 1665 diary by Samuel Pepys, supporting the Greek origin.

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

How it sounds

Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it KROHNEE.

Rhymes with PHONY STONY CONEY BONEY TONEY

Related meanings by dictionary sense

noun

a close friend who accompanies their buddies in their activities

Synonyms for this sense: buddy, pal, sidekick.

Open English WordNet, 2025 edition, CC BY 4.0. Source dictionary. Senses are kept separate; no puzzle appearance is assigned to a meaning without evidence.

In a sentence

Tom is a crony capitalist.
© tatoeba.org contributor Spamster (CC BY 2.0 FR)

Use CRONY in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 93.4% of possible answers.

Open Solver with CRONY Open Word Finder

Wordle status

Answer chance: likely. Roughly 38.31% within a year (about 1 in 3), under the model through 2026-11-05. This is an estimate, not a publisher forecast. How this is calculated.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Earlier benchmark pool

Yes

Membership in the preserved uniform benchmark; it is not a future eligibility rule.

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 CRONY performs as a guess

CRONY is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,392 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 81.1% of games, misses completely in 18.9%, and leaves about 157 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,150 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.60 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

C___Y C in the 1st position and Y in the 5th position C__N_ C in the 1st position and N in the 4th position _R__Y R in the 2nd position and Y in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in CRONY.

First-turn measures

All four describe CRONY 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.

4.94 Entropy (bits)
157 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.4% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How CRONY 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.

3.60 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.67 Spread of game lengths
#1,150 Rank among openers
Opening with CRONY solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.67 means those games clustered within about 0.67 of a guess of the 3.60 average. It ranks #1,150 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
58
3 guesses
992
4 guesses
1,141
5 guesses
148
6 guesses
14

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
NOR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
81%
Green tile
43%
All gray
19%

When CRONY is useful later

CRONY tied for the smallest expected survivor count in 4 of 54 sampled positions where it was legal. This designed sample is not a measure of how often real players should use it.

After SLATE: 3 candidates, normal mode

SLATE: 10100 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

RASPS: 01002 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

AIGAS: 02022 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

MINAS: 22022 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

Remaining answers: MICAS, MIHAS, MIYAS.

With a budget of 2 more guesses, CRONY is an information probe, outside this survivor list. It leaves 1.00 candidates on average under the model. Every feedback identifies a single candidate; another turn may be needed to submit it.

Try this position in the Solver
After ADIEU: 4 candidates, normal mode

ADIEU: 02000 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

Remaining answers: ODDLY, ODOOM, ODORS, ODYLS.

With a budget of 5 more guesses, CRONY is an information probe, outside this survivor list. It leaves 1.00 candidates on average under the model. Every feedback identifies a single candidate; another turn may be needed to submit it.

Try this position in the Solver
After ROATE: 3 candidates, normal mode

ROATE: 10101 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

AWNER: 10011 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

ZEBRA: 01012 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

Remaining answers: CREMA, ERICA, PRESA.

With a budget of 3 more guesses, CRONY is an information probe, outside this survivor list. It leaves 1.00 candidates on average under the model. Every feedback identifies a single candidate; another turn may be needed to submit it.

Try this position in the Solver
Sample and method

Every saved board is reachable within a six-turn game. Remaining turns equal six minus the saved history length. The sampling policy is independent of the expected-survivor metric. Two states at each of three depths per opener were selected by a fixed hash from an independent candidate-only sampling policy. Every accepted guess was evaluated. Model answer-model-2026-11-05-9183a914c959, data through 2026-11-05. The score measures expected survivors, not proved solve length or human difficulty.

How this is calculated.

How the solver finds CRONY

The strategy receives only earlier guesses and their feedback. It does not know the answer before choosing a move. Guessing the answer itself on turn one is a lucky one-turn result, not a recommended general strategy.

Normal mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 322 after. This feedback leaves 322 candidates.

    All 322 surviving candidates

    BIDRI, BLURB, BOMOR, BOORD, BOURD, BOURG, BOURN, BRICK, BRIKI, BRILL, BRING, BRINK, BRINY, BROCH, BROCK, BROGH, BROIL, BROMO, BRONC, BROND, BROOD, BROOK, BROOL, BROOM, BROWN, BRUCK, BRUGH, BRUIN, BRUJO, BRUNG, CHIRK, CHIRL, CHIRM, CHIRO, CHIRP, CHIRR, CHIRU, CHOIR, CHORD, CHURL, CHURN, CHURR, CLOUR, COLOR, COURB, COURD, COWRY, CRIBO, CRICK, CRIMP, CRINK, CROCI, CROCK, CROMB, CRONK, CRONY, CROOK, CROOL, CROON, CROUP, CROWD, CROWL, CROWN, CRUCK, CRUDO, CRUDY, CRUMB, CRUMP, CRUNK, CRUOR, CUPRO, DHIKR, DOBRO, DOLOR, DONOR, DOORN, DOWRY, DRILL, DRILY, DRINK, DROCK, DROID, DROIL, DROLL, DRONY, DROOB, DROOG, DROOK, DROOL, DROOP, DROUK, DROWN, DRUID, DRUNK, DRUXY, DRYLY, FIBRO, FIORD, FJORD, FLOOR, FLORY, FLOUR, FLUOR, FLURR, FRILL, FRIZZ, FROCK, FROMM, FROND, FROOM, FRORN, FRORY, FROWN, FROWY, FROYO, FRUMP, GLORY, GOORY, GOURD, GRIFF, GRILL, GRIMY, GRIND, GRIPY, GRODY, GROIN, GROOF, GROOM, GROUF, GROUP, GROVY, GROWL, GROWN, GRUFF, GRUMP, GRUND, GUIRO, HONOR, HOORD, HOURI, HUMOR, HYDRO, ICHOR, IMPRO, INCUR, INDRI, INORB, INURN, IRING, IROKO, IRONY, IVORY, KNURL, KNURR, KOORI, KRILL, KRIOL, KROON, KRUBI, KRUMP, KRUNK, KUKRI, KWIRL, LIBOR, LIBRI, LIVOR, LOORD, LOURY, LOWRY, MHORR, MICRO, MILOR, MINOR, MOHUR, MOORY, MOURN, MUCOR, MUCRO, MUDIR, MUIRY, NIDOR, NJIRL, OCCUR, OCHRY, ODOUR, OFURO, ORBIC, ORCIN, ORFUL, ORGIC, ORIBI, ORIGO, ORLON, ORLOP, ORPIN, PONOR, POORI, PRICK, PRICY, PRIDY, PRILL, PRIMI, PRIMO, PRIMP, PRIMY, PRING, PRINK, PRION, PRIOR, PRIVY, PROBY, PRODD, PROIN, PROLL, PROMO, PRONG, PRONK, PROOF, PROOK, PROUD, PROUL, PROWK, PROWL, PROXY, PROYN, PRUNO, PRUNY, PUDOR, QUIRK, QUIRL, QUORK, QUORL, RHINO, RHODY, RHOMB, RHUMB, RHYMY, RIBBY, RICIN, RIDGY, RIDIC, RIFFY, RIGID, RIGMO, RIGOL, RIGOR, RILLY, RIMON, RINDY, RINGY, ROBBO, ROBIN, ROBUG, ROBUR, ROCKY, RODNY, ROGUY, ROHUN, ROILY, ROLLY, ROMPU, ROMPY, RONDO, RONIN, RONUK, ROOFY, ROOKY, ROOMY, ROOPY, ROUGH, ROUGY, ROUKY, ROUND, ROUPY, ROWDY, ROWND, RUBBY, RUBIN, RUBIO, RUBLI, RUBOR, RUCHY, RUDDY, RUFFY, RUGBY, RUGGY, RUING, RULLY, RUMBO, RUMLY, RUMMY, RUMOR, RUMPO, RUMPY, RUNCH, RUNIC, RUNNY, RUNUP, RUVID, RYIJI, RYIJY, RYPIN, RYUGI, UHURU, UPDRY, URUBU, VIGOR, VIZIR, VIZOR, VROOM, VROUW, WHIRL, WHIRR, WHORL, WRICK, WRING, WRONG, WRUNG, WRYLY, YOURN, YRIVD, ZOKOR

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test PRION against the 322 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    322 before → 7 after. This feedback leaves 7 candidates.

    All 7 surviving candidates

    BRONC, BROND, CRONK, CRONY, DRONY, FROND, WRONG

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 12.414. Information: 4.376 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test CRONY against the 7 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    7 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    CRONY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.016. Information: 0.752 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 3 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver

Hard Mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 322 after. This feedback leaves 322 candidates.

    All 322 surviving candidates

    BIDRI, BLURB, BOMOR, BOORD, BOURD, BOURG, BOURN, BRICK, BRIKI, BRILL, BRING, BRINK, BRINY, BROCH, BROCK, BROGH, BROIL, BROMO, BRONC, BROND, BROOD, BROOK, BROOL, BROOM, BROWN, BRUCK, BRUGH, BRUIN, BRUJO, BRUNG, CHIRK, CHIRL, CHIRM, CHIRO, CHIRP, CHIRR, CHIRU, CHOIR, CHORD, CHURL, CHURN, CHURR, CLOUR, COLOR, COURB, COURD, COWRY, CRIBO, CRICK, CRIMP, CRINK, CROCI, CROCK, CROMB, CRONK, CRONY, CROOK, CROOL, CROON, CROUP, CROWD, CROWL, CROWN, CRUCK, CRUDO, CRUDY, CRUMB, CRUMP, CRUNK, CRUOR, CUPRO, DHIKR, DOBRO, DOLOR, DONOR, DOORN, DOWRY, DRILL, DRILY, DRINK, DROCK, DROID, DROIL, DROLL, DRONY, DROOB, DROOG, DROOK, DROOL, DROOP, DROUK, DROWN, DRUID, DRUNK, DRUXY, DRYLY, FIBRO, FIORD, FJORD, FLOOR, FLORY, FLOUR, FLUOR, FLURR, FRILL, FRIZZ, FROCK, FROMM, FROND, FROOM, FRORN, FRORY, FROWN, FROWY, FROYO, FRUMP, GLORY, GOORY, GOURD, GRIFF, GRILL, GRIMY, GRIND, GRIPY, GRODY, GROIN, GROOF, GROOM, GROUF, GROUP, GROVY, GROWL, GROWN, GRUFF, GRUMP, GRUND, GUIRO, HONOR, HOORD, HOURI, HUMOR, HYDRO, ICHOR, IMPRO, INCUR, INDRI, INORB, INURN, IRING, IROKO, IRONY, IVORY, KNURL, KNURR, KOORI, KRILL, KRIOL, KROON, KRUBI, KRUMP, KRUNK, KUKRI, KWIRL, LIBOR, LIBRI, LIVOR, LOORD, LOURY, LOWRY, MHORR, MICRO, MILOR, MINOR, MOHUR, MOORY, MOURN, MUCOR, MUCRO, MUDIR, MUIRY, NIDOR, NJIRL, OCCUR, OCHRY, ODOUR, OFURO, ORBIC, ORCIN, ORFUL, ORGIC, ORIBI, ORIGO, ORLON, ORLOP, ORPIN, PONOR, POORI, PRICK, PRICY, PRIDY, PRILL, PRIMI, PRIMO, PRIMP, PRIMY, PRING, PRINK, PRION, PRIOR, PRIVY, PROBY, PRODD, PROIN, PROLL, PROMO, PRONG, PRONK, PROOF, PROOK, PROUD, PROUL, PROWK, PROWL, PROXY, PROYN, PRUNO, PRUNY, PUDOR, QUIRK, QUIRL, QUORK, QUORL, RHINO, RHODY, RHOMB, RHUMB, RHYMY, RIBBY, RICIN, RIDGY, RIDIC, RIFFY, RIGID, RIGMO, RIGOL, RIGOR, RILLY, RIMON, RINDY, RINGY, ROBBO, ROBIN, ROBUG, ROBUR, ROCKY, RODNY, ROGUY, ROHUN, ROILY, ROLLY, ROMPU, ROMPY, RONDO, RONIN, RONUK, ROOFY, ROOKY, ROOMY, ROOPY, ROUGH, ROUGY, ROUKY, ROUND, ROUPY, ROWDY, ROWND, RUBBY, RUBIN, RUBIO, RUBLI, RUBOR, RUCHY, RUDDY, RUFFY, RUGBY, RUGGY, RUING, RULLY, RUMBO, RUMLY, RUMMY, RUMOR, RUMPO, RUMPY, RUNCH, RUNIC, RUNNY, RUNUP, RUVID, RYIJI, RYIJY, RYPIN, RYUGI, UHURU, UPDRY, URUBU, VIGOR, VIZIR, VIZOR, VROOM, VROUW, WHIRL, WHIRR, WHORL, WRICK, WRING, WRONG, WRUNG, WRYLY, YOURN, YRIVD, ZOKOR

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test PRION against the 322 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    322 before → 7 after. This feedback leaves 7 candidates.

    All 7 surviving candidates

    BRONC, BROND, CRONK, CRONY, DRONY, FROND, WRONG

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 12.414. Information: 4.376 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test CRONY against the 7 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    7 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    CRONY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.016. Information: 0.752 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 3 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver
Historical proven-optimal benchmark: July 2023

Alex Selby’s strategy minimises the mean over its complete 3,158-answer snapshot. A route for one answer is not proof of the shortest possible route for that answer, and is separate from the current weighted model.

Normal mode

Selby’s proven-optimal strategy. July 2023 snapshot: 3,158 equally likely answers; minimum mean guesses.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    3,158 before → 110 after. This feedback leaves 110 candidates.

    All 110 surviving candidates

    BLURB, BRICK, BRING, BRINK, BRINY, BROIL, BRONC, BROOD, BROOK, BROOM, BROWN, CHIRP, CHOIR, CHORD, CHURN, COLOR, CRICK, CRIMP, CROCK, CRONY, CROOK, CROON, CROUP, CROWD, CROWN, CRUMB, CRUMP, DONOR, DOWRY, DRILL, DRINK, DROID, DROLL, DROOL, DROOP, DROWN, DRUID, DRUNK, DRYLY, FJORD, FLOOR, FLOUR, FRILL, FRIZZ, FROCK, FROND, FROWN, FRUMP, GLORY, GOURD, GRILL, GRIMY, GRIND, GROIN, GROOM, GROUP, GROWL, GROWN, GRUFF, GRUMP, HONOR, HUMOR, HYDRO, INCUR, IRONY, IVORY, KRILL, MICRO, MINOR, MOURN, OCCUR, PRICK, PRICY, PRIMO, PRIMP, PRION, PRIOR, PRIVY, PROMO, PRONG, PROOF, PROUD, PROWL, PROXY, QUIRK, RHINO, RICIN, RIGID, RIGOR, ROBIN, ROCKY, ROOMY, ROUGH, ROUND, ROWDY, RUDDY, RUGBY, RUING, RUMMY, RUMOR, RUNNY, RUNUP, VIGOR, VROOM, WHIRL, WHORL, WRING, WRONG, WRUNG, WRYLY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 100.074. Information: 5.888 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test DOING against the 110 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    110 before → 2 after. This feedback leaves 2 candidates.

    All 2 surviving candidates

    BRONC, CRONY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 6.145. Information: 4.876 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test BRONC against the 2 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    2 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    CRONY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 1.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    CRONY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 4 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver

Hard Mode

Selby’s proven-optimal strategy. July 2023 snapshot: 3,158 equally likely answers; minimum mean guesses.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    3,158 before → 110 after. This feedback leaves 110 candidates.

    All 110 surviving candidates

    BLURB, BRICK, BRING, BRINK, BRINY, BROIL, BRONC, BROOD, BROOK, BROOM, BROWN, CHIRP, CHOIR, CHORD, CHURN, COLOR, CRICK, CRIMP, CROCK, CRONY, CROOK, CROON, CROUP, CROWD, CROWN, CRUMB, CRUMP, DONOR, DOWRY, DRILL, DRINK, DROID, DROLL, DROOL, DROOP, DROWN, DRUID, DRUNK, DRYLY, FJORD, FLOOR, FLOUR, FRILL, FRIZZ, FROCK, FROND, FROWN, FRUMP, GLORY, GOURD, GRILL, GRIMY, GRIND, GROIN, GROOM, GROUP, GROWL, GROWN, GRUFF, GRUMP, HONOR, HUMOR, HYDRO, INCUR, IRONY, IVORY, KRILL, MICRO, MINOR, MOURN, OCCUR, PRICK, PRICY, PRIMO, PRIMP, PRION, PRIOR, PRIVY, PROMO, PRONG, PROOF, PROUD, PROWL, PROXY, QUIRK, RHINO, RICIN, RIGID, RIGOR, ROBIN, ROCKY, ROOMY, ROUGH, ROUND, ROWDY, RUDDY, RUGBY, RUING, RUMMY, RUMOR, RUNNY, RUNUP, VIGOR, VROOM, WHIRL, WHORL, WRING, WRONG, WRUNG, WRYLY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 100.074. Information: 5.888 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test GROIN against the 110 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    110 before → 3 after. This feedback leaves 3 candidates.

    All 3 surviving candidates

    BRONC, CRONY, FROND

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 6.109. Information: 4.81 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test BRONC against the 3 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    3 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    CRONY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 1.585 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    CRONY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 4 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver

Source: Alex Selby’s Wordle analysis, MIT. Licence and attribution.

How the fixed opener panel performs on this answer

OpenerFirst feedbackSurvivorsNormalHard Mode
TARSE00100 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)32233
CRANE22020 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)622
SLATE00000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)105933
ADIEU00000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)114044
STARE00010 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)36133
AUDIO00001 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)178444
RAISE10000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)30944
ROATE11000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)22633
SALET00000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)105933
Normal mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 1 · 3 guesses: 5 · 4 guesses: 3 · 5 guesses: 0 · 6 guesses: 0 · Failed in six: 0
Hard Mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 1 · 3 guesses: 5 · 4 guesses: 3 · 5 guesses: 0 · 6 guesses: 0 · Failed in six: 0

The nine openers use the same pool and continuation policy. Across both modes: 2–4 guesses among successes; 0 of 18 configurations failed. This is performance on this answer, not an overall opener ranking.

512 openers set up a two-turn opportunity; examples include MONEY, POINT, STORY, YOUNG, COURT, WRONG, ALONG, PHONE, FRONT, SORRY. After their feedback, this answer is among the most likely survivors with at least half the model probability. This is an opportunity, not a guarantee. An opener that immediately solves is excluded.

Why this answer can be difficult

The worked board still allows 7 different answers at one later decision: BRONC, BROND, CRONK, CRONY, DRONY, FROND, WRONG. These are mechanical alternatives, not a judgement of vocabulary difficulty.

Vocabulary evidence and voluntary player results are reported separately from these solver observations.

Closest competing answers in this board

These words all fit the earlier feedback, rather than merely sharing similar spelling: BRONC, BROND, CRONK, CRONY, DRONY, FROND, WRONG.

A lesson from this route

Before CRONY, 7 words still fit. Its feedback left 1; check the full survivor list before choosing the next answer.

Try another opener or a different move

How this is calculated

The current policy checks all remaining candidates and up to 128 fixed probes. At six or fewer candidates it uses bounded lookahead, preferring modelled six-turn success, then speed among successes. Larger states use expected survivors as a heuristic. These are recommendations, not proofs of optimal play. Hard Mode retains green positions and revealed letter counts; it allows grey letters and a yellow in the same position. Candidate-only play is stricter.

Methods and limitations

Feedback distribution

CRONY can come back 109 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

453 answers
244 answers
155 answers
125 answers
105 answers
104 answers
90 answers
90 answers
81 answers
76 answers
54 answers
49 answers
49 answers
38 answers
37 answers
37 answers
33 answers
31 answers
28 answers
25 answers
22 answers
22 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

C3R1O1N1Y4
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Try next

SLATE SALET SAULT ANILE TOILE STADE

Strategy after playing CRONY

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing CRONY:

19% chance
Suggested:
SLATE
10% chance
Suggested:
SALET
6% chance
Suggested:
SAULT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

18.9% →
SLATE 6.56 bits
10.2% →
SALET 5.44 bits
6.5% →
SAULT 4.80 bits
5.2% →
ANILE 5.14 bits
4.4% →
TOILE 5.10 bits
4.3% →
STADE 4.94 bits
3.8% →
SATEM 4.49 bits
3.8% →
SHALE 5.10 bits
3.4% →
SLATE 4.93 bits
3.2% →
STAGE 4.89 bits

Research on CRONY

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

Optimal play

Opening with CRONY, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.67 guesses and ranks #2,528 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.80 guesses at best and is rank #1,428 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.60, at or below the proven-optimal 3.67, 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
CRONY sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words in the source corpus. Corpus frequency does not measure every reader’s familiarity.

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).