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

FLABS

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

As an opener, it rules out about 90.0% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

plural of flab

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 FLABS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts FLABS 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 75.6% of games, misses completely in 24.4%, and leaves about 236 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,430 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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 FLABS 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.

4.32 Entropy (bits)
236 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.0% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 40% of evaluated openers
1.62 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How FLABS 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.

3.68 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.67 Spread of game lengths
#5,430 Rank among openers
Opening with FLABS solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.67 means those games clustered within about 0.67 of a guess of the 3.68 average. It ranks #5,430 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
47
3 guesses
877
4 guesses
1,227
5 guesses
196
6 guesses
7
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
1 vowels
Common:
ALS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
26%
All gray
24%

Feedback distribution

FLABS can come back 81 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

580 answers
271 answers
263 answers
164 answers
108 answers
103 answers
80 answers
76 answers
73 answers
48 answers
43 answers
43 answers
39 answers
29 answers
29 answers
25 answers
25 answers
23 answers
21 answers
21 answers
20 answers
20 answers
18 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

F4L1A1B3S1
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing FLABS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing FLABS:

24% chance
Suggested:
TRONE
11% chance
Suggested:
RUOTE
11% chance
Suggested:
TONER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.4%
TRONE 6.14 bits
11.4%
RUOTE 5.50 bits
11.1%
TONER 5.42 bits
6.9%
RIONE 4.84 bits
4.5%
PARTE 4.60 bits
4.3%
TRICE 5.21 bits
3.4%
PARTE 4.87 bits
3.2%
TRONE 5.25 bits
3.1%
TRIPE 4.12 bits
2.0%
TONER 4.60 bits

Research on FLABS

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

Optimal play

Opening with FLABS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.73 guesses and ranks #6,935 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 FLABS can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.68, at or below the proven-optimal 3.73, 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 FLABZ. Estimated pronunciation

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

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, FLABS is a kind of fat.

Familiarity and learning

Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.8 of 5).

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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).