FOCUS
Yes, FOCUS was the Wordle answer on March 13, 2022 (Wordle #267).
As an opener, it rules out about 88.7% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈfəʊ̯.kəs//ˈfɵ̞ʊ̯.kəs//ˈfoʊ̯.kəs/
- Noun
-
A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge.
“The heat of sunlight at the focus of a magnifying glass can easily set dry leaves on fire.”
- Noun
-
A point of a conic at which rays reflected from a curve or surface converge.
- Verb
-
To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.
- Verb
-
To adjust (a lens, an optical instrument) in order to position an image with respect to the focal plane.
“You'll need to focus the microscope carefully in order to capture the full detail of this surface.”
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: March 13, 2022 (#267).
See the full page for that puzzle: March 13, 2022 (#267).
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 FOCUS performs as a guess
FOCUS 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 72.7% of games, misses completely in 27.3%, and leaves about 268 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,080 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.72 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 FOCUS 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 FOCUS 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 FOCUS in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
FOCUS can come back 84 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 FOCUS; 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 FOCUS
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to FOCUS.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing FOCUS:
Research on FOCUS
Game-tree analysis and word research for FOCUS, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with FOCUS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.76 guesses and ranks #8,607 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.88 guesses at best and is rank #3,767 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.72, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, FOCUS is a kind of concentration or sharpness.
Synonyms center centre direction stress focusing concentrate
Opposites blur
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- FOCUS sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 100 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 A1); among the first words English learners study.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.3 of 5).
In a sentence
We have to have focus.
I need you to focus.
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; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).