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

DRAFF

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

As an opener, it rules out about 87.2% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /dɹæf//dɹɑːf/

Noun

A byproduct from a brewery, a distillery, or both, often fed to pigs or cattle as part of their ration; often synonymous with distillers' grains, brewers' spent grains, or both (when not differentiated); usually differentiated from potale, at least in technical use, although broad, nontechnical use has often lumped all such byproducts together, especially in the past.

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

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

Not used yet

No past answer date found.

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

How DRAFF performs as a guess

Wordle accepts DRAFF 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 71.8% of games, misses completely in 28.2%, and leaves about 303 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,320 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.82 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.

First-turn measures

All four describe DRAFF 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.

3.85 Entropy (bits)
303 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
87.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 16% of evaluated openers
2.10 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How DRAFF 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.

3.82 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#12,320 Rank among openers
Opening with DRAFF left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.82 average. It ranks #12,320 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
37
3 guesses
701
4 guesses
1,284
5 guesses
309
6 guesses
21
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
AR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
72%
Green tile
26%
All gray
28%

Feedback distribution

DRAFF can come back 63 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

670 answers
326 answers
281 answers
157 answers
145 answers
114 answers
103 answers
52 answers
51 answers
51 answers
47 answers
39 answers
32 answers
29 answers
23 answers
21 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
15 answers
13 answers
12 answers
11 answers
10 answers
10 answers
10 answers
9 answers
9 answers
8 answers
7 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2R1A1F4F4
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing DRAFF

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DRAFF:

28% chance
Suggested:
TOILE
14% chance
Suggested:
SALET
12% chance
Suggested:
SORER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

28.2%
TOILE 6.07 bits
13.7%
SALET 5.33 bits
11.8%
SORER 5.29 bits
6.6%
STILE 5.25 bits
6.1%
TALER 4.69 bits
4.8%
CONTE 4.79 bits
4.3%
TUILE 5.23 bits
2.2%
TOILE 4.73 bits
2.1%
TUILE 4.81 bits
2.1%
ANOLE 4.43 bits

Research on DRAFF

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

Optimal play

Opening with DRAFF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.84 guesses and ranks #12,267 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 DRAFF can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.82, at or below the proven-optimal 3.84, 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.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it DRAF. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, DRAFF is a kind of residue.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model; Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0).