5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier opener

DECAY

Yes, DECAY was the Wordle answer on March 22, 2024 (Wordle #1007).

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

Open Solver with DECAY Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /dɪˈkeɪ//diˈkeɪ/

Noun

Rot; any processes or result of organic matter being gradually decomposed, especially by microbial action.

“tooth decay/dental decay—wood-decay fungi—bacterial decay—photochemical decay”

Noun

Deterioration of condition; loss of status, quality, strength, or fortune.

“civic and moral decay—systemic decay—fall into decay—urban decay—arrested decay—memory decay”

Verb

To deteriorate, to get worse, to lose strength or health, to decline in quality.

“The pair loved to take pictures in the decaying hospital on forty-third street.”

Verb

To rot, to go bad.

“The cat's body decayed rapidly.”

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

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

Past Wordle answer

Used once

Past Wordle answer: March 22, 2024 (#1007).

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

Wordle Observatory

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About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How DECAY performs as a guess

DECAY is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 86.6% of games, misses completely in 13.4%, and leaves about 156 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #6,116 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.69 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.

Useful pattern pages

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

D___Y D in the 1st position and Y in the 5th position D__A_ D in the 1st position and A in the 4th position _E__Y E in the 2nd position and Y in the 5th position

Try next

STIRE SNORT SLART SOILY CHOIR SIREN
Words starting with D Words ending with Y

First-turn measures

4.77 Entropy (bits)
156 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.4% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 70% of evaluated openers
1.17 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How DECAY 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.

3.69 Avg guesses
99.9% Win rate
0.71 Volatility
#6,116 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, DECAY ranks #6,116 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
61
3 guesses
863
4 guesses
1,191
5 guesses
219
6 guesses
17
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AE

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
87%
Green tile
33%
All gray
13%

Example solver route

R O A T E
L A D E N
A H E A D
D E C A Y

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches DECAY in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

102 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

331
317
226
180
135
120
92
78
70
67
66
54
43
34
28
24
23
23
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
15
14
14
13
13

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DECAY:

14% chance
Suggested:
STIRE
13% chance
Suggested:
SNORT
10% chance
Suggested:
SLART

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

14.0% →
STIRE 5.38 bits
13.4% →
SNORT 6.04 bits
9.6% →
SLART 5.41 bits
7.6% →
SLART 4.77 bits
5.7% →
SOILY 4.22 bits
5.1% →
CHOIR 5.07 bits
3.9% →
SIREN 4.75 bits
3.3% →
CHARM 4.62 bits
3.0% →
SIREE 4.79 bits
2.8% →
RIONE 4.68 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2E1C3A1Y4
Total: 11 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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