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

HAKUS

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

No dictionary definition for HAKUS is recorded in our sourced data.

As an opener, it rules out about 89.8% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

We do not have a sourced definition for this word yet.

Check HAKUS on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

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 HAKUS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts HAKUS 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 76.0% of games, misses completely in 24.0%, and leaves about 241 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,018 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.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

First-turn measures

All four describe HAKUS 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.

4.20 Entropy (bits)
241 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
89.8% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 32% of evaluated openers
1.75 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How HAKUS 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.

3.76 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#10,018 Rank among openers
Opening with HAKUS solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.76 average. It ranks #10,018 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
35
3 guesses
795
4 guesses
1,237
5 guesses
269
6 guesses
18
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
2 vowels
Common:
ASU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
20%
All gray
24%

Feedback distribution

HAKUS can come back 66 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

569 answers
322 answers
196 answers
183 answers
180 answers
113 answers
93 answers
54 answers
50 answers
45 answers
41 answers
38 answers
37 answers
34 answers
33 answers
29 answers
28 answers
26 answers
25 answers
17 answers
17 answers
17 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
12 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

H4A1K5U1S1
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing HAKUS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing HAKUS:

24% chance
Suggested:
LINER
14% chance
Suggested:
ALERT
8% chance
Suggested:
SPITE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.0%
LINER 5.93 bits
13.6%
ALERT 5.55 bits
8.3%
SPITE 5.51 bits
7.7%
TRINE 4.72 bits
7.6%
DROLE 5.00 bits
4.8%
TRICE 5.44 bits
3.9%
PEART 4.94 bits
2.3%
RONTE 4.37 bits
2.1%
POLEY 4.10 bits
1.9%
CLINE 4.86 bits

Research on HAKUS

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

Optimal play

Opening with HAKUS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.78 guesses and ranks #9,708 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.90 guesses at best and is rank #4,136 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 3.78, 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

Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it HAHKOOZ. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model.