FAVOR
Yes, FAVOR was the Wordle answer on January 12, 2022 (Wordle #207).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈfeɪ.və//ˈfeɪ.vɚ/
- Noun
-
A kind or helpful deed; an instance of voluntarily assisting (someone).
“He did me a favor when he took the time to drive me home.”
- Noun
-
Goodwill; benevolent regard.
“She enjoyed the queen's favor.”
- Verb
-
To look upon fondly; to prefer.
- Verb
-
To use more often.
Alternative forms: favour
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English favour, favor, faver, from Anglo-Norman favour, from mainland Old French favor, from Latin favor (“good will; kindness; partiality”), from faveō (“to be kind to”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂weh₁yeti (“to be favourable to”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine, glow light”). Respelled in American English to more closely match its Latin etymon. Compare also Danish favør (“favor”), Irish fabhar (“favor”), from the same Romance source.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it FAYVUR.
Rhymes with SAVER SAVOR WAVER LAVER RAVER
Related meanings
Synonyms prefer favour privilege
In a sentence
He is in my favor.
I did you a favor.
Use FAVOR in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 91.2% of possible answers.
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: January 12, 2022 (#207).
See the full page for that puzzle: January 12, 2022 (#207).
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 →FAVOR in Connections
1 recorded appearance in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #637
Reveal this appearance's category
FAVOR appeared in HELPFUL DEED (blue group).
How FAVOR performs as a guess
FAVOR is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 79.4% of games, misses completely in 20.6%, and leaves about 209 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,458 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.73 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 FAVOR 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 FAVOR 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 FAVOR in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
FAVOR can come back 87 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 FAVOR; 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 FAVOR
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to FAVOR.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing FAVOR:
Research on FAVOR
Game-tree analysis and word research for FAVOR, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with FAVOR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.77 guesses and ranks #9,198 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 FAVOR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.73, at or below the proven-optimal 3.77, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- FAVOR sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 38 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.
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.