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

DRILL

Yes, DRILL was the Wordle answer on October 23, 2025 (Wordle #1587).

As an opener, it rules out about 90.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with DRILL Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /dɹɪl/[dɹɪɫ]

Verb

To create (a hole) by removing material with a drill (tool).

“Drill a small hole to start the screw in the right direction.”

Verb

To practice, especially in (or as in) a military context.

“They drilled daily to learn the routine exactly.”

Noun

A tool or machine used to remove material so as to create a hole, typically by plunging a rotating cutting bit into a stationary workpiece.

“Wear safety glasses when operating an electric drill.”

Noun

The portion of a drilling tool that drives the bit.

“Use a drill with a wire brush to remove any rust or buildup.”

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: October 23, 2025 (#1587).

See the full page for that puzzle: October 23, 2025 (#1587).

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

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How DRILL performs as a guess

DRILL 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 77.3% of games, misses completely in 22.7%, and leaves about 224 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,708 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.72 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___L D in the 1st position and L in the 5th position D__L_ D in the 1st position and L in the 4th position _R__L R in the 2nd position and L in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe DRILL 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.

4.40 Entropy (bits)
224 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
90.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 45% of evaluated openers
1.55 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How DRILL 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.

3.72 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#7,708 Rank among openers
Opening with DRILL left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.72 average. It ranks #7,708 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
42
3 guesses
883
4 guesses
1,141
5 guesses
267
6 guesses
17
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:
ILR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
77%
Green tile
33%
All gray
23%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I C K
D O U G H
D R I L L

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches DRILL in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

DRILL can come back 85 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

538 answers
341 answers
194 answers
160 answers
139 answers
106 answers
80 answers
67 answers
61 answers
55 answers
49 answers
42 answers
35 answers
34 answers
34 answers
30 answers
28 answers
23 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers
12 answers
10 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

D2R1I1L1L1
Total: 6 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

SAUTE TARSE SLANE SIENT COATE STANE

Strategy after playing DRILL

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing DRILL:

23% chance
Suggested:
SAUTE
14% chance
Suggested:
TARSE
8% chance
Suggested:
SLANE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

22.7% →
SAUTE 6.13 bits
14.4% →
TARSE 5.48 bits
8.2% →
SLANE 5.31 bits
6.7% →
SIENT 5.06 bits
5.9% →
COATE 5.13 bits
4.5% →
STANE 5.22 bits
3.4% →
ANODE 5.00 bits
2.8% →
SIENT 4.50 bits
2.6% →
POTAE 4.52 bits
2.3% →
PAUSE 4.62 bits

Research on DRILL

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

Optimal play

Opening with DRILL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.75 guesses and ranks #8,052 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 DRILL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.72, at or below the proven-optimal 3.75, 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 DRIHL.

Rhymes with STILL UNTIL SKILL CHILL GRILL

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, DRILL is a kind of tool or monkey.

Synonyms practice exercise bore practise

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
DRILL 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 beginner learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level A2); among the first words English learners study.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 7, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 79 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.

In a sentence

This is not a drill.
© tatoeba.org contributor CC (CC BY 2.0 FR)
I have a new drill.
© tatoeba.org contributor ddnktr (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).