GAUZE
Yes, GAUZE was the Wordle answer on August 28, 2022 (Wordle #435).
As an opener, it rules out about 91.7% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ɡɔːz//ɡɑz/
- Noun
-
A thin fabric with a loose, open weave.
- Noun
-
A similar bleached cotton fabric used as a surgical dressing.
- Verb
-
To apply a dressing of gauze; to cover with gauze.
- Verb
-
To mist; to make or become gauze-like.
Alternative forms: gause
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: August 28, 2022 (#435).
See the full page for that puzzle: August 28, 2022 (#435).
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 GAUZE performs as a guess
GAUZE 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 83.9% of games, misses completely in 16.1%, and leaves about 198 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,490 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.83 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 GAUZE 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 GAUZE 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 GAUZE in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
GAUZE can come back 82 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 GAUZE; 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 GAUZE
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to GAUZE.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing GAUZE:
Research on GAUZE
Game-tree analysis and word research for GAUZE, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with GAUZE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.83 guesses and ranks #12,033 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 GAUZE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.83, at or below the proven-optimal 3.83, 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, GAUZE is a kind of cotton or network.
Synonyms netting
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- GAUZE 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.
In a sentence
Wrap the gauze around the dressing.
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).