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

FORDS

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

As an opener, it rules out about 91.2% of possible answers.

Open Solver with FORDS Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

plural of ford

Verb

third-person singular simple present indicative of ford

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 FORDS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts FORDS 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 78.2% of games, misses completely in 21.8%, and leaves about 210 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,883 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.67 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___S F in the 1st position and S in the 5th position F__D_ F in the 1st position and D in the 4th position _O__S O in the 2nd position and S in the 5th position FO_DS F in the 1st position, O in the 2nd position, D in the 4th position, and S in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe FORDS 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.

4.45 Entropy (bits)
210 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
91.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 48% of evaluated openers
1.50 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How FORDS 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.

3.67 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#4,883 Rank among openers
Opening with FORDS left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.67 average. It ranks #4,883 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
46
3 guesses
908
4 guesses
1,191
5 guesses
197
6 guesses
11
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:
ORS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
78%
Green tile
26%
All gray
22%

Feedback distribution

FORDS can come back 84 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

517 answers
284 answers
268 answers
126 answers
107 answers
107 answers
86 answers
77 answers
68 answers
65 answers
62 answers
50 answers
38 answers
35 answers
33 answers
29 answers
28 answers
26 answers
24 answers
23 answers
21 answers
21 answers
20 answers
17 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers
11 answers
10 answers
10 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

F4O1R1D2S1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Try next

LIANE STALE LEANT ALINE ANILE THALE

Strategy after playing FORDS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing FORDS:

22% chance
Suggested:
LIANE
12% chance
Suggested:
STALE
11% chance
Suggested:
LEANT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

21.8% →
LIANE 6.19 bits
12.0% →
STALE 5.72 bits
11.3% →
LEANT 5.42 bits
5.3% →
ALINE 5.37 bits
4.5% →
ANILE 5.42 bits
4.5% →
THALE 4.48 bits
3.6% →
ATONE 4.31 bits
3.2% →
SPATE 4.95 bits
2.9% →
MATEY 4.70 bits
2.7% →
DIANE 4.85 bits

Research on FORDS

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

Optimal play

Opening with FORDS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #5,134 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 FORDS can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.67, at or below the proven-optimal 3.70, 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 FAWRDZ.

Rhymes with LORDS WARDS CORDS

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, FORDS is a kind of water or crossing.

Synonyms crossing

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
FORDS sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words of written English; the band marks it as an uncommon word many players still recognize.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.6 of 5).

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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).