5 FiveLetterWords
Possible Accepted guess C tier for first-turn info

DORKY

DORKY is an accepted guess. Its modelled answer likelihood is possible; no globally completed appearance is recorded here.

Meaning and pronunciation

Adjective

Like a dork.

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

Use DORKY in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 89.3% of possible answers.

Open Solver with DORKY Open Word Finder

Wordle status

Answer chance: possible. Roughly 9.86% within a year (about 1 in 10), under the model through 2026-11-05. This is an estimate, not a publisher forecast. How this is calculated.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Earlier benchmark pool

No

Membership in the preserved uniform benchmark; it is not a future eligibility rule.

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 DORKY performs as a guess

Wordle accepts DORKY as a guess. It is outside this preserved uniform benchmark’s answer pool; that is not a claim about future eligibility.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 73.5% of games, misses completely in 26.5%, and leaves about 256 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,335 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.
See strategy patterns

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__K_ D in the 1st position and K in the 4th position _O__Y O in the 2nd position and Y in the 5th position DO_KY D in the 1st position, O in the 2nd position, K in the 4th position, and Y in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in DORKY.

First-turn measures

All four describe DORKY 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.

4.28 Entropy (bits)
256 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
89.3% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How DORKY 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
99.96% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#7,335 Rank among openers
Opening with DORKY left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.71 average. It ranks #7,335 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
45
3 guesses
837
4 guesses
1,245
5 guesses
211
6 guesses
15

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
OR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
74%
Green tile
33%
All gray
26%

When DORKY is useful later

DORKY tied for the smallest expected survivor count in 5 of 54 sampled positions where it was legal. This designed sample is not a measure of how often real players should use it.

After TARSE: 5 candidates, normal mode

TARSE: 20201 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

Remaining answers: TEREK, TERRY, THREW, TIRED, TYRED.

With a budget of 5 more guesses, DORKY is an information probe, outside this survivor list. It leaves 1.00 candidates on average under the model. Every feedback identifies a single candidate; another turn may be needed to submit it.

Try this position in the Solver
After CRANE: 3 candidates, normal mode

CRANE: 01100 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

PORTA: 10201 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

BARPS: 01211 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

Remaining answers: SPRAD, SPRAG, SPRAY.

With a budget of 3 more guesses, DORKY is an information probe, outside this survivor list. It leaves 1.00 candidates on average under the model. Every feedback identifies a single candidate; another turn may be needed to submit it.

Try this position in the Solver
After ADIEU: 4 candidates, normal mode

ADIEU: 02000 (0 = grey, 1 = yellow, 2 = green).

Remaining answers: ODDLY, ODOOM, ODORS, ODYLS.

With a budget of 5 more guesses, DORKY is an information probe, outside this survivor list. It leaves 1.00 candidates on average under the model. Every feedback identifies a single candidate; another turn may be needed to submit it.

Try this position in the Solver
Sample and method

Every saved board is reachable within a six-turn game. Remaining turns equal six minus the saved history length. The sampling policy is independent of the expected-survivor metric. Two states at each of three depths per opener were selected by a fixed hash from an independent candidate-only sampling policy. Every accepted guess was evaluated. Model answer-model-2026-11-05-9183a914c959, data through 2026-11-05. The score measures expected survivors, not proved solve length or human difficulty.

How this is calculated.

How the solver finds DORKY

The strategy receives only earlier guesses and their feedback. It does not know the answer before choosing a move. Guessing the answer itself on turn one is a lucky one-turn result, not a recommended general strategy.

Normal mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 134 after. This feedback leaves 134 candidates.

    All 134 surviving candidates

    BIRCH, BIRDO, BIRZZ, BORGO, BORIC, BORON, BURFI, BURGH, BURIN, BURLY, BUROO, BURRO, BURRY, CIRRI, CORBY, CORGI, CORKY, CORNI, CORNO, CORNU, CORNY, CURCH, CURDY, CURIO, CURLI, CURLY, CURNY, CURRY, CURVY, DORIC, DORKY, DORMY, DURGY, DUROC, DUROY, DURRY, DURUM, DURZI, FIRNI, FIRRY, FORBY, FORDO, FORGO, FORKY, FORUM, FUROL, FUROR, FURRY, FURZY, GIRLF, GIRLY, GIRON, GORDO, GORMY, GRRRL, GURDY, GURLY, GURRY, GYRON, HORNY, HURLY, HURRY, IBRIK, INRUN, JORUM, JUROR, KIRBY, KIRRI, KORUN, LORDY, LORIC, LORRY, LURCH, LURGI, LURGY, LURID, LURRY, LYRIC, MIRCH, MIRID, MIRIN, MIRKN, MIRKY, MIRLY, MIRRL, MORGY, MORIN, MORMO, MORON, MOROR, MORPH, MORRO, MORUK, MURGH, MURGI, MURID, MURKY, MURLY, MURRI, MURRY, MURUK, MYRRH, NIRLY, NURDY, OKRUG, PIROG, PIRRI, PORCH, PORGY, PORIN, PORKY, PORNO, PORNY, PURDY, PURIN, PURPY, PURRY, PYRIC, RORIC, RORID, UNRID, UNRIG, UNRIP, UPRUN, VIRGO, VIRID, WIRRI, WORDY, WORKY, WORLD, WORMY, WORRY, ZORIL, ZORRO

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test CORNY against the 134 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    134 before → 14 after. This feedback leaves 14 candidates.

    All 14 surviving candidates

    DORKY, DORMY, FORBY, FORKY, GORMY, LORDY, LORRY, MORGY, PORGY, PORKY, WORDY, WORKY, WORMY, WORRY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 9.106. Information: 3.325 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test DORMY against the 14 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    14 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 3.047. Information: 2.02 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 4 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver

Hard Mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 134 after. This feedback leaves 134 candidates.

    All 134 surviving candidates

    BIRCH, BIRDO, BIRZZ, BORGO, BORIC, BORON, BURFI, BURGH, BURIN, BURLY, BUROO, BURRO, BURRY, CIRRI, CORBY, CORGI, CORKY, CORNI, CORNO, CORNU, CORNY, CURCH, CURDY, CURIO, CURLI, CURLY, CURNY, CURRY, CURVY, DORIC, DORKY, DORMY, DURGY, DUROC, DUROY, DURRY, DURUM, DURZI, FIRNI, FIRRY, FORBY, FORDO, FORGO, FORKY, FORUM, FUROL, FUROR, FURRY, FURZY, GIRLF, GIRLY, GIRON, GORDO, GORMY, GRRRL, GURDY, GURLY, GURRY, GYRON, HORNY, HURLY, HURRY, IBRIK, INRUN, JORUM, JUROR, KIRBY, KIRRI, KORUN, LORDY, LORIC, LORRY, LURCH, LURGI, LURGY, LURID, LURRY, LYRIC, MIRCH, MIRID, MIRIN, MIRKN, MIRKY, MIRLY, MIRRL, MORGY, MORIN, MORMO, MORON, MOROR, MORPH, MORRO, MORUK, MURGH, MURGI, MURID, MURKY, MURLY, MURRI, MURRY, MURUK, MYRRH, NIRLY, NURDY, OKRUG, PIROG, PIRRI, PORCH, PORGY, PORIN, PORKY, PORNO, PORNY, PURDY, PURIN, PURPY, PURRY, PYRIC, RORIC, RORID, UNRID, UNRIG, UNRIP, UPRUN, VIRGO, VIRID, WIRRI, WORDY, WORKY, WORLD, WORMY, WORRY, ZORIL, ZORRO

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test CORNY against the 134 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    134 before → 14 after. This feedback leaves 14 candidates.

    All 14 surviving candidates

    DORKY, DORMY, FORBY, FORKY, GORMY, LORDY, LORRY, MORGY, PORGY, PORKY, WORDY, WORKY, WORMY, WORRY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 9.106. Information: 3.325 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test DORMY against the 14 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    14 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 3.047. Information: 2.02 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 4 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver
Historical proven-optimal benchmark: July 2023

Alex Selby’s strategy minimises the mean over its complete 3,158-answer snapshot. A route for one answer is not proof of the shortest possible route for that answer, and is separate from the current weighted model.

Normal mode

Selby’s proven-optimal strategy. July 2023 snapshot: 3,158 equally likely answers; minimum mean guesses.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    3,158 before → 35 after. This feedback leaves 35 candidates.

    All 35 surviving candidates

    BIRCH, BORON, BURLY, BURRO, CORGI, CORKY, CORNY, CURIO, CURLY, CURRY, CURVY, DORKY, FORGO, FORUM, FUROR, FURRY, GIRLY, HORNY, HURRY, JUROR, LORDY, LORRY, LURCH, LURID, LYRIC, MORON, MORPH, MURKY, MYRRH, PORCH, PORKY, WORDY, WORLD, WORMY, WORRY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 100.074. Information: 5.888 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test CYMOL against the 35 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    35 before → 5 after. This feedback leaves 5 candidates.

    All 5 surviving candidates

    DORKY, HORNY, PORKY, WORDY, WORRY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 2.2. Information: 4.205 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test WORDY against the 5 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    5 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.4. Information: 1.922 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 4 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver

Hard Mode

Selby’s proven-optimal strategy. July 2023 snapshot: 3,158 equally likely answers; minimum mean guesses.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    3,158 before → 35 after. This feedback leaves 35 candidates.

    All 35 surviving candidates

    BIRCH, BORON, BURLY, BURRO, CORGI, CORKY, CORNY, CURIO, CURLY, CURRY, CURVY, DORKY, FORGO, FORUM, FUROR, FURRY, GIRLY, HORNY, HURRY, JUROR, LORDY, LORRY, LURCH, LURID, LYRIC, MORON, MORPH, MURKY, MYRRH, PORCH, PORKY, WORDY, WORLD, WORMY, WORRY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 100.074. Information: 5.888 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test CURLY against the 35 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    35 before → 6 after. This feedback leaves 6 candidates.

    All 6 surviving candidates

    DORKY, HORNY, PORKY, WORDY, WORMY, WORRY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 2.771. Information: 3.957 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test WORDY against the 6 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    6 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.667. Information: 1.918 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    DORKY

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 4 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver

Source: Alex Selby’s Wordle analysis, MIT. Licence and attribution.

How the fixed opener panel performs on this answer

OpenerFirst feedbackSurvivorsNormalHard Mode
TARSE00200 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)13444
CRANE01000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)57844
SLATE00000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)105955
ADIEU01000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)20644
STARE00010 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)36144
AUDIO00101 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)36144
RAISE10000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)30944
ROATE12000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)15344
SALET00000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)105955
Normal mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 0 · 3 guesses: 0 · 4 guesses: 7 · 5 guesses: 2 · 6 guesses: 0 · Failed in six: 0
Hard Mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 0 · 3 guesses: 0 · 4 guesses: 7 · 5 guesses: 2 · 6 guesses: 0 · Failed in six: 0

The nine openers use the same pool and continuation policy. Across both modes: 4–5 guesses among successes; 0 of 18 configurations failed. This is performance on this answer, not an overall opener ranking.

77 openers set up a two-turn opportunity; examples include WORLD, DRINK, DRUNK, DRAKE, DRANK, VODKA, DORIS, DOCKS, ROWDY, DOWRY. After their feedback, this answer is among the most likely survivors with at least half the model probability. This is an opportunity, not a guarantee. An opener that immediately solves is excluded.

A lesson from this route

This route identifies the answer on turn 3. Identifying a unique candidate and submitting it are separate actions.

Try another opener or a different move

How this is calculated

The current policy checks all remaining candidates and up to 128 fixed probes. At six or fewer candidates it uses bounded lookahead, preferring modelled six-turn success, then speed among successes. Larger states use expected survivors as a heuristic. These are recommendations, not proofs of optimal play. Hard Mode retains green positions and revealed letter counts; it allows grey letters and a yellow in the same position. Candidate-only play is stricter.

Methods and limitations

Feedback distribution

DORKY can come back 84 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

634 answers
318 answers
169 answers
144 answers
106 answers
105 answers
99 answers
81 answers
78 answers
48 answers
43 answers
42 answers
36 answers
32 answers
25 answers
25 answers
25 answers
24 answers
24 answers
23 answers
22 answers
22 answers
19 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
12 answers
12 answers
10 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2O1R1K5Y4
Total: 13 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Try next

SLATE TEASE SLANT SAULT TUILE TRONE

Strategy after playing DORKY

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DORKY:

27% chance
Suggested:
SLATE
13% chance
Suggested:
TEASE
7% chance
Suggested:
SLANT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

26.5% →
SLATE 6.42 bits
13.3% →
TEASE 5.45 bits
7.1% →
SLANT 5.41 bits
6.0% →
SAULT 4.75 bits
4.4% →
TUILE 4.63 bits
4.4% →
TRONE 4.46 bits
4.1% →
ALINE 5.46 bits
3.4% →
SLANT 5.16 bits
3.3% →
SAUTE 5.13 bits
2.0% →
CRIED 4.39 bits

Research on DORKY

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

Optimal play

Opening with DORKY, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.73 guesses and ranks #7,054 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 DORKY can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.71, at or below the proven-optimal 3.73, 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.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
DORKY sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words in the source corpus. Corpus frequency does not measure every reader’s familiarity.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.6 of 5).

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).