5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier opener

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).

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

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How ESSAY performs as a guess

ESSAY is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 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 209 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 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.

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

Try next

RIONE COURT TRAIN CARLE SPOUT SPREE
Words starting with E Words ending with Y

First-turn measures

4.19 Entropy (bits)
209 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 opener: v5 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
99.8% Win rate
0.74 Volatility
#13,358 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, ESSAY 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 (3.45 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

69 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

422
350
258
194
147
143
138
76
73
64
52
51
41
39
28
19
19
15
14
14
14
13
13
12
11
11
10
8
8
7

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ESSAY:

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

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

17.9% →
RIONE 5.16 bits
14.8% →
COURT 5.92 bits
10.9% →
TRAIN 5.18 bits
8.2% →
CARLE 4.71 bits
6.2% →
SPOUT 5.05 bits
6.1% →
SPREE 4.67 bits
5.9% →
MOILE 3.83 bits
3.2% →
SLANT 4.49 bits
3.1% →
TARDY 3.62 bits
2.7% →
TONER 4.38 bits

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.