EXERT
Yes, EXERT was the Wordle answer on September 15, 2023 (Wordle #818).
As an opener, it rules out about 89.2% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ɪɡˈzɝt//ɪɡˈzɜːt/
- Verb
-
To make use of, to apply, especially of something nonmaterial; to bring to bear.
“He considered exerting his influence on John to gain an advantage for himself.”
- Verb
-
To put in vigorous action.
“I exerted myself in today's training.”
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: September 15, 2023 (#818).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 15, 2023 (#818).
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 EXERT performs as a guess
EXERT 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 75.3% of games, misses completely in 24.7%, and leaves about 257 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #13,274 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe EXERT 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 EXERT 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 EXERT in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
EXERT can come back 73 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 EXERT; 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 EXERT
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to EXERT.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing EXERT:
Research on EXERT
Game-tree analysis and word research for EXERT, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with EXERT, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.87 guesses and ranks #13,210 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 EXERT 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 IHGZURT.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, EXERT is a kind of use or have.
Synonyms exercise maintain WIELD
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- EXERT sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 2 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 10, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 38 of 100. Raters found it difficult to picture.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with internal bodily sensation (2.9 of 5).
In a sentence
Try not to exert yourself.
You don't exert yourself much.
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); Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).