GLOSS
Yes, GLOSS was the Wordle answer on April 26, 2026 (Wordle #1772).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ɡlɒs//ɡlɔs//ɡlɑs/
- Noun
-
A surface shine or luster.
- Noun
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A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance.
- Verb
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To give a gloss or sheen to.
- Verb
-
To make (something) attractive by deception
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
Probably from a North Germanic language, compare Icelandic glossi (“spark, flame”), glossa (“to flame”); or perhaps from dialectal Dutch gloos (“a glow, flare”), related to West Frisian gloeze (“a glow”), Middle Low German glȫsen (“to smoulder, glow”), German glosen (“to smoulder”); ultimately from Proto-Germanic *glus- (“to glow, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰel- (“to flourish; be green or yellow”). More at glow.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it GLAWS.
Rhymes with CROSS SAUCE DROSS PROSS
Related meanings
Synonyms COLOR comment colour polish glossary semblance
In a sentence
Can you please gloss this sentence?
I can't find my lip gloss.
Use GLOSS in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 87.9% of possible answers.
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: April 26, 2026 (#1772).
See the full page for that puzzle: April 26, 2026 (#1772).
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 →GLOSS in Connections
2 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #850
Reveal this appearance's category
GLOSS appeared in PAINT FINISHES (blue group).
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· Puzzle #372
Reveal this appearance's category
GLOSS appeared in KINDS OF LIP MAKEUP (green group).
How GLOSS performs as a guess
GLOSS is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 71.5% of games, misses completely in 28.5%, and leaves about 289 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,891 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.76 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 GLOSS 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 GLOSS 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 GLOSS in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
GLOSS can come back 71 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 GLOSS; 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 GLOSS
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to GLOSS.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing GLOSS:
Research on GLOSS
Game-tree analysis and word research for GLOSS, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with GLOSS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.81 guesses and ranks #10,996 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.93 guesses at best and is rank #4,954 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.76, at or below the proven-optimal 3.81, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- GLOSS sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 3 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.3 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).