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

DECYL

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

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

Any of very many isomeric univalent hydrocarbon radicals, C₁₀H₂₁, formally derived from decane by the loss of a hydrogen atom

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

Use DECYL in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 92.3% 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 DECYL performs as a guess

Wordle accepts DECYL 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 83.1% of games, misses completely in 16.9%, and leaves about 184 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,525 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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 DECYL 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.

4.54 Entropy (bits)
184 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
92.3% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How DECYL 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.

3.68 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.67 Spread of game lengths
#5,525 Rank among openers
Opening with DECYL left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.67 means those games clustered within about 0.67 of a guess of the 3.68 average. It ranks #5,525 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
52
3 guesses
859
4 guesses
1,251
5 guesses
174
6 guesses
16

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
EL

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
21%
All gray
17%

Feedback distribution

DECYL can come back 86 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

402 answers
382 answers
169 answers
159 answers
127 answers
124 answers
92 answers
89 answers
72 answers
70 answers
65 answers
63 answers
45 answers
36 answers
33 answers
29 answers
26 answers
24 answers
23 answers
21 answers
20 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2E1C3Y4L1
Total: 11 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing DECYL

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DECYL:

17% chance
Suggested:
ROAST
16% chance
Suggested:
STAIR
7% chance
Suggested:
SAUNT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.9% →
ROAST 6.15 bits
16.0% →
STAIR 5.64 bits
7.1% →
SAUNT 4.94 bits
6.7% →
CHAIN 5.27 bits
5.3% →
ROAST 5.11 bits
5.2% →
SLATE 4.68 bits
3.9% →
RANSE 4.87 bits
3.7% →
CARSE 4.86 bits
3.0% →
RAINE 4.71 bits
2.9% →
STAIR 4.82 bits

Research on DECYL

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

Optimal play

Opening with DECYL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.71 guesses and ranks #5,650 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 DECYL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.68, 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.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT).