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

DEFER

Yes, DEFER was the Wordle answer on September 20, 2025 (Wordle #1554).

As an opener, it rules out about 88.5% of possible answers.

Open Solver with DEFER Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /dɪˈfɜː//dɪˈfeː//dɪˈfɛː/

Verb

To delay or postpone.

“We're going to defer the decision until we have all the facts.”

Verb

After winning the opening coin toss, to postpone until the start of the second half a team's choice of whether to kick off or receive (and to allow the opposing team to make this choice at the start of the first half).

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: September 20, 2025 (#1554).

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 DEFER performs as a guess

DEFER is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,359 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 72.1% of games, misses completely in 27.9%, and leaves about 271 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #7,442 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.71 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___R D in the 1st position and R in the 5th position D__E_ D in the 1st position and E in the 4th position _E__R E in the 2nd position and R in the 5th position

Try next

SLANT COAST ALOUD ALIEN SHALT SAINT
Words starting with D Words ending with R

First-turn measures

4.28 Entropy (bits)
271 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
88.5% Avg ruled out

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How DEFER 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.

3.71 Avg guesses
100.0% Win rate
0.68 Volatility
#7,442 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, DEFER ranks #7,442 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
42
3 guesses
842
4 guesses
1,237
5 guesses
214
6 guesses
17

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ER

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
72%
Green tile
29%
All gray
28%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S I L E D
A R E N E
D E F E R

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches DEFER in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

85 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

657
276
273
113
90
90
72
69
61
46
45
39
37
35
28
23
23
22
20
18
15
15
13
12
12
12
12
12
11
11

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DEFER:

28% chance
Suggested:
SLANT
12% chance
Suggested:
SLANT
12% chance
Suggested:
COAST

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

27.9% →
SLANT 5.98 bits
11.7% →
SLANT 5.73 bits
11.6% →
COAST 5.56 bits
4.8% →
COAST 4.92 bits
3.8% →
COAST 3.47 bits
3.8% →
ALOUD 4.94 bits
3.1% →
SLANT 4.93 bits
2.9% →
ALIEN 4.18 bits
2.6% →
SHALT 4.58 bits
1.9% →
SAINT 4.04 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2E1F4E1R1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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