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

CUSEC

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

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈkjuː.sɛk//ˈkjuˌsɛk/

Noun

A measure of the rate of flow of fluid, especially through a pipeline, equal to one cubic foot per second.

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

Use CUSEC in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 90.2% 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 CUSEC performs as a guess

Wordle accepts CUSEC 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 78.1% of games, misses completely in 21.9%, and leaves about 234 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #11,929 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.81 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 CUSEC 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.

4.21 Entropy (bits)
234 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.2% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How CUSEC 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.

3.81 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#11,929 Rank among openers
Opening with CUSEC left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.81 average. It ranks #11,929 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
39
3 guesses
728
4 guesses
1,254
5 guesses
304
6 guesses
26

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ESU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
78%
Green tile
31%
All gray
22%

Feedback distribution

CUSEC can come back 68 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

521 answers
374 answers
214 answers
204 answers
136 answers
92 answers
85 answers
67 answers
66 answers
58 answers
55 answers
47 answers
38 answers
31 answers
31 answers
28 answers
23 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

C3U1S1E1C3
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing CUSEC

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing CUSEC:

22% chance
Suggested:
TALON
16% chance
Suggested:
TIARE
9% chance
Suggested:
SOLAR

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

21.9% →
TALON 5.93 bits
15.7% →
TIARE 5.37 bits
9.0% →
SOLAR 4.04 bits
8.6% →
SLART 5.31 bits
5.7% →
SLART 4.85 bits
3.9% →
GRUNT 4.89 bits
3.6% →
MEALY 3.65 bits
2.8% →
ROANY 4.72 bits
2.8% →
RANCH 4.54 bits
2.4% →
LEARE 4.70 bits

Research on CUSEC

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

Optimal play

Opening with CUSEC, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.82 guesses and ranks #11,415 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 CUSEC can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.81, at or below the proven-optimal 3.82, 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).