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

DOUCS

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

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

plural of douc

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

Use DOUCS in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 90.8% 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 DOUCS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts DOUCS 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 76.0% of games, misses completely in 24.0%, and leaves about 218 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,023 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.65 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 DOUCS 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.

4.51 Entropy (bits)
218 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.8% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How DOUCS 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.

3.65 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#4,023 Rank among openers
Opening with DOUCS left 3 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 3.65 average. It ranks #4,023 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
51
3 guesses
920
4 guesses
1,184
5 guesses
184
6 guesses
12

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
OSU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
28%
All gray
24%

Feedback distribution

DOUCS can come back 90 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

573 answers
286 answers
173 answers
115 answers
114 answers
113 answers
108 answers
82 answers
65 answers
53 answers
50 answers
47 answers
39 answers
36 answers
34 answers
31 answers
29 answers
29 answers
26 answers
24 answers
23 answers
22 answers
20 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
12 answers
12 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2O1U1C3S1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Strategy after playing DOUCS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DOUCS:

24% chance
Suggested:
RATEL
12% chance
Suggested:
STALE
7% chance
Suggested:
TRONE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.0% →
RATEL 6.19 bits
12.0% →
STALE 5.73 bits
7.3% →
TRONE 5.27 bits
4.8% →
RATEL 4.74 bits
4.8% →
RAILE 5.48 bits
4.7% →
PLANE 4.76 bits
4.5% →
RAILE 5.40 bits
3.4% →
THALE 4.93 bits
2.7% →
PEART 4.15 bits
2.2% →
TRINE 4.96 bits

Research on DOUCS

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

Optimal play

Opening with DOUCS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #4,632 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 DOUCS can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.65, at or below the proven-optimal 3.70, 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).