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

FENCE

Yes, FENCE was the Wordle answer on August 11, 2026 (Wordle #1879).

As an opener, it rules out about 89.2% of possible answers.

Open Solver with FENCE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /fɛns/[fɛns][fɛnts]

Noun

A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.

Noun

Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.

Verb

To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.

Verb

To defend or guard.

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: August 11, 2026 (#1879).

See the full page for that puzzle: August 11, 2026 (#1879).

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

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How FENCE performs as a guess

FENCE 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 72.8% of games, misses completely in 27.2%, and leaves about 256 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,041 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.70 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.

F___E F in the 1st position and E in the 5th position F__C_ F in the 1st position and C in the 4th position _E__E E in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe FENCE 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.

4.31 Entropy (bits)
256 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
89.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 39% of evaluated openers
1.64 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How FENCE 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.

3.70 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#7,041 Rank among openers
Opening with FENCE left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.70 average. It ranks #7,041 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
50
3 guesses
842
4 guesses
1,226
5 guesses
222
6 guesses
12
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:
EN

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
73%
Green tile
39%
All gray
27%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I N G
F E T C H
F E N C E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches FENCE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

FENCE can come back 83 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

646 answers
224 answers
213 answers
197 answers
137 answers
92 answers
72 answers
65 answers
56 answers
56 answers
42 answers
39 answers
35 answers
32 answers
31 answers
30 answers
28 answers
27 answers
24 answers
22 answers
17 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers
13 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

F4E1N1C3E1
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Try next

ROAST SLART SOLAR SORAL SHALT ARIEL

Strategy after playing FENCE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing FENCE:

27% chance
Suggested:
ROAST
9% chance
Suggested:
SLART
9% chance
Suggested:
SOLAR

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

27.2% →
ROAST 6.02 bits
9.4% →
SLART 5.19 bits
9.0% →
SOLAR 5.12 bits
8.3% →
ROAST 5.33 bits
5.8% →
SORAL 5.39 bits
3.9% →
SLART 5.01 bits
3.0% →
SHALT 4.35 bits
2.7% →
ARIEL 4.35 bits
2.4% →
LAIRY 4.17 bits
2.4% →
SLART 4.80 bits

Research on FENCE

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

Optimal play

Opening with FENCE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.76 guesses and ranks #8,427 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.90 guesses at best and is rank #4,132 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.70, at or below the proven-optimal 3.76, 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 FEHNS.

Rhymes with SENSE HENCE DENSE TENSE PENCE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, FENCE is a kind of barrier or dealer.

Synonyms wall debate ARGUE surround contend fencing

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
FENCE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 16 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 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 94 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.5 of 5).

In a sentence

I'm still on the fence.
© tatoeba.org contributor Spamster (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Let go of the fence.
© 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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).