GROIN
Yes, GROIN was the Wordle answer on November 8, 2021 (Wordle #142).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈɡɹoɪ̯n/ ~ /ˈɡɹɔɪ̯n//ˈɡɹɑɪ̯n/ ~ /ˈɡɹɒɪ̯n/
- Noun
-
The crease or depression of the human body at the junction of the trunk and the thigh, together with the surrounding region.
- Noun
-
The area adjoining this fold or depression.
“He pulled a muscle in his groin.”
- Verb
-
To deliver a blow to the genitals of.
“In the scrum he somehow got groined.”
- Verb
-
To build or furnish with a groin or groins.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From earlier grine, from Middle English grinde, grynde, from Old English grynde (“abyss”) (perhaps also "depression, hollow"), probably related to Proto-Germanic *grunduz; see ground. Later altered under the influence of loin.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it GROYN.
Rhymes with QUOIN
Related meanings
Synonyms mole JETTY
In a sentence
He has got a pain in his left groin.
Mary kicked Tom in the groin.
Use GROIN in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 93.2% 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: November 8, 2021 (#142).
See the full page for that puzzle: November 8, 2021 (#142).
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 GROIN performs as a guess
GROIN 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 80.5% of games, misses completely in 19.5%, and leaves about 163 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #623 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.59 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 GROIN 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 GROIN 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 GROIN in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
GROIN can come back 118 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 GROIN; 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 GROIN
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to GROIN.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing GROIN:
Research on GROIN
Game-tree analysis and word research for GROIN, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with GROIN, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.67 guesses and ranks #2,938 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.80 guesses at best and is rank #1,276 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.59, at or below the proven-optimal 3.67, 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
- GROIN sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 2 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 (4.1 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).