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

ESSAY

Yes, ESSAY was the Wordle answer on October 2, 2021 (Wordle #105).

As an opener, it rules out about 91.1% of possible answers.

Open Solver with ESSAY Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈɛs.eɪ//ɛˈseɪ/

Noun

A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject.

Noun

A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote.

Verb

To move forth, as into battle.

Verb

To attempt or try.

“Shall we essay a walk on the promenade?”

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 2, 2021 (#105).

See the full page for that puzzle: October 2, 2021 (#105).

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

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How verification and withdrawal work

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How ESSAY performs as a guess

ESSAY 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 85.2% of games, misses completely in 14.8%, and leaves about 211 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #13,358 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.86 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.

E___Y E in the 1st position and Y in the 5th position E__A_ E in the 1st position and A in the 4th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe ESSAY 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.

4.19 Entropy (bits)
211 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
91.1% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 32% of evaluated openers
1.76 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How ESSAY 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.

3.86 Avg guesses
99.79% Solved within six
0.74 Spread of game lengths
#13,358 Rank among openers
Opening with ESSAY left 5 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.74 means those games clustered within about 0.74 of a guess of the 3.86 average. It ranks #13,358 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
47
3 guesses
656
4 guesses
1,252
5 guesses
360
6 guesses
33
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
2 vowels
Common:
AES

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
85%
Green tile
27%
All gray
15%

Example solver route

R O A T E
L A D E N
S E P I A
E S S A Y

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches ESSAY in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

ESSAY can come back 69 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

428 answers
351 answers
260 answers
195 answers
148 answers
143 answers
140 answers
76 answers
73 answers
64 answers
52 answers
51 answers
41 answers
39 answers
29 answers
19 answers
19 answers
15 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
8 answers
8 answers
7 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

E1S1S1A1Y4
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 7 points

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

Try next

RIONE COUNT TRAIN CARLE SPOUT SPREE

Strategy after playing ESSAY

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ESSAY:

18% chance
Suggested:
RIONE
15% chance
Suggested:
COUNT
11% chance
Suggested:
TRAIN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

18.0% →
RIONE 5.17 bits
14.8% →
COUNT 5.91 bits
11.0% →
TRAIN 5.17 bits
8.2% →
CARLE 4.71 bits
6.2% →
SPOUT 5.04 bits
6.0% →
SPREE 4.67 bits
5.9% →
MOILE 3.81 bits
3.2% →
SLANT 4.49 bits
3.1% →
TARDY 3.62 bits
2.7% →
TONER 4.38 bits

Research on ESSAY

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

Optimal play

Opening with ESSAY, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.87 guesses and ranks #13,110 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 ESSAY can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.86, at or below the proven-optimal 3.87, 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

Two syllables, stress on the second syllable Say it EHSAY.

Rhymes with TODAY DELAY ANIME SPRAY ARRAY

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, ESSAY is a kind of writing or try.

Synonyms try test attempt PROVE seek examine

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
ESSAY sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 17 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.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.8 of 5).

In a sentence

Is my essay any good?
© tatoeba.org contributor mailohilohi (CC BY 2.0 FR)
This essay is my own.
© tatoeba.org contributor CM (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; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).