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

DELVE

Yes, DELVE was the Wordle answer on May 16, 2022 (Wordle #331).

As an opener, it rules out about 86.9% of possible answers.

Open Solver with DELVE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /dɛlv/

Verb

To dig into the ground, especially with a shovel.

Verb

To dig; to excavate.

Noun

A pit or den.

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: May 16, 2022 (#331).

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

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

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 DELVE performs as a guess

DELVE 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 68.7% of games, misses completely in 31.3%, and leaves about 309 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #10,407 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.77 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___E D in the 1st position and E in the 5th position D__V_ D in the 1st position and V in the 4th position _E__E E in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Try next

ROAST COAST SONAR ROANY SHART SATER
Words starting with D Words ending with E

First-turn measures

4.12 Entropy (bits)
309 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
86.9% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 28% of evaluated openers
1.83 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How DELVE 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.

3.77 Avg guesses
100.0% Win rate
0.72 Volatility
#10,407 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, DELVE ranks #10,407 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
53
3 guesses
756
4 guesses
1,232
5 guesses
297
6 guesses
14
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

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
EL

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
69%
Green tile
34%
All gray
31%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I N G
A B B E Y
D E L V E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches DELVE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

84 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

739
249
204
199
96
81
69
65
59
47
38
33
30
29
27
23
22
20
20
18
18
16
15
15
14
13
12
10
10
9

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DELVE:

31% chance
Suggested:
ROAST
11% chance
Suggested:
COAST
9% chance
Suggested:
ROAST

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

31.3% →
ROAST 6.00 bits
10.6% →
COAST 5.18 bits
8.7% →
ROAST 5.23 bits
8.4% →
SONAR 5.20 bits
4.1% →
ROANY 5.03 bits
3.4% →
SHART 4.83 bits
2.9% →
SATER 4.30 bits
2.8% →
SLANT 4.15 bits
2.5% →
SOILY 4.39 bits
2.0% →
RAINY 4.59 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2E1L1V4E1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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