FRANK
Yes, FRANK was the Wordle answer on September 18, 2023 (Wordle #821).
As an opener, it rules out about 91.2% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /fɹæŋk/[ˈfɹʷæŋk]/fɹaŋk/
- Adjective
-
Honest, especially in a manner that seems slightly blunt; candid; not reserved or disguised.
“May I be frank with you?”
- Adjective
-
Unmistakable, clinically obvious, self-evident.
“The research probes whether treating pre-diabetes with metformin can prevent progression to frank diabetes.”
- Noun
-
Free postage, a right exercised by governments (usually with definite article).
- Noun
-
The notice on an envelope where a stamp would normally be found.
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: September 18, 2023 (#821).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 18, 2023 (#821).
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 FRANK performs as a guess
FRANK 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 78.0% of games, misses completely in 22.0%, and leaves about 209 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,751 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe FRANK 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 FRANK 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 FRANK in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
FRANK can come back 92 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 FRANK; 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 FRANK
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to FRANK.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing FRANK:
Research on FRANK
Game-tree analysis and word research for FRANK, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with FRANK, 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.
In hard mode it averages 3.85 guesses at best and is rank #2,727 of the 7,453 openers that can still 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, FRANK is a kind of european or sausage.
Synonyms dog BLUNT candid outspoken wiener direct
Opposites indirect
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- FRANK sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 56 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 10, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 23 of 100. Raters found it difficult to picture.
In a sentence
I want to be frank.
You can be frank with me.
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).