DRAIN
Yes, DRAIN was the Wordle answer on August 21, 2021 (Wordle #63).
As an opener, it rules out about 94.9% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /dɹeɪn//dɹiːn/
- Noun
-
A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
“The drain in the kitchen sink is clogged.”
- Noun
-
An access point or conduit for rainwater that drains directly downstream in a (drainage) basin without going through sewers or water treatment in order to prevent or belay floods.
- Verb
-
To lose liquid.
“The clogged sink drained slowly.”
- Verb
-
To flow gradually.
“The water of low ground drains off.”
Alternative forms: drein, dreen
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
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: August 21, 2021 (#63).
See the full page for that puzzle: August 21, 2021 (#63).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How DRAIN performs as a guess
DRAIN is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 86.2% of games, misses completely in 13.8%, and leaves about 121 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #241 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.57 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe DRAIN 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.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How DRAIN 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.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches DRAIN in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
DRAIN can come back 131 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for DRAIN; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing DRAIN
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to DRAIN.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing DRAIN:
Research on DRAIN
Game-tree analysis and word research for DRAIN, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with DRAIN, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.62 guesses and ranks #461 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 DRAIN can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.57, at or below the proven-optimal 3.62, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, DRAIN is a kind of evacuation or tube.
Synonyms drainage
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- DRAIN sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 12 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.3 of 5).
In a sentence
That is money down the drain.
It's money down the drain.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).