Accepted guess Not a possible answer B tier for first-turn info

FETOR

FETOR is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.

As an opener, it rules out about 94.6% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈfiː.tə//ˈfiː.tɔː//ˈfi.təɹ/

Noun

An unpleasant smell.

Alternative forms: fœtor

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

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

Not used yet

No past answer date found.

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

How FETOR performs as a guess

Wordle accepts FETOR as a guess, but the solver does not list it as a possible answer.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 85.5% of games, misses completely in 14.5%, and leaves about 128 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,373 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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.

First-turn measures

All four describe FETOR 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.

5.05 Entropy (bits)
128 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
94.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 85% of evaluated openers
0.90 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How FETOR 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#3,373 Rank among openers
Opening with FETOR left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #3,373 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
79
3 guesses
899
4 guesses
1,171
5 guesses
191
6 guesses
13
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

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
EORT

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
86%
Green tile
30%
All gray
14%

Feedback distribution

FETOR can come back 111 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

345 answers
239 answers
148 answers
143 answers
126 answers
104 answers
103 answers
89 answers
83 answers
74 answers
72 answers
67 answers
59 answers
54 answers
44 answers
35 answers
35 answers
31 answers
31 answers
29 answers
26 answers
25 answers
23 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

F4E1T1O1R1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Strategy after playing FETOR

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing FETOR:

15% chance
Suggested:
SLAIN
10% chance
Suggested:
SLANE
6% chance
Suggested:
CAIRN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

14.5%
SLAIN 5.94 bits
10.1%
SLANE 5.47 bits
6.2%
CAIRN 4.86 bits
6.0%
SONLY 4.75 bits
5.3%
SAINT 5.57 bits
4.4%
SLANT 4.98 bits
4.3%
CRAPE 4.69 bits
3.7%
SONDE 4.26 bits
3.5%
LIANE 4.56 bits
3.1%
ACORN 4.47 bits

Research on FETOR

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

Optimal play

Opening with FETOR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.67 guesses and ranks #2,938 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 FETOR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.67, 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 first syllable Say it FEHTUR. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, FETOR is a kind of smell.

Synonyms STINK stench

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model; Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0).