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

HALSH

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 89.9% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check HALSH 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 HALSH performs as a guess

Wordle accepts HALSH 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 75.0% of games, misses completely in 25.0%, and leaves about 239 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,295 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.75 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 HALSH 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.

4.23 Entropy (bits)
239 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
89.9% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 34% of evaluated openers
1.71 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How HALSH 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.

3.75 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#9,295 Rank among openers
Opening with HALSH left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.75 average. It ranks #9,295 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
35
3 guesses
828
4 guesses
1,206
5 guesses
267
6 guesses
17
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

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
ALS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
75%
Green tile
29%
All gray
25%

Feedback distribution

HALSH can come back 71 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

593 answers
230 answers
212 answers
193 answers
163 answers
149 answers
76 answers
70 answers
64 answers
64 answers
48 answers
48 answers
42 answers
37 answers
29 answers
26 answers
23 answers
23 answers
20 answers
20 answers
18 answers
13 answers
13 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
9 answers
9 answers
9 answers
8 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

H4A1L1S1H4
Total: 11 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Strategy after playing HALSH

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing HALSH:

25% chance
Suggested:
RIONE
10% chance
Suggested:
TRONE
9% chance
Suggested:
NOIRE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

25.0%
RIONE 6.10 bits
9.7%
TRONE 5.63 bits
8.9%
NOIRE 5.07 bits
8.1%
RONTE 5.38 bits
6.9%
RONTE 4.86 bits
6.3%
TIARE 4.59 bits
3.2%
PEART 4.79 bits
2.9%
TROPE 4.96 bits
2.7%
RUOTE 4.64 bits
2.7%
TRICE 5.20 bits

Research on HALSH

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

Optimal play

Opening with HALSH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.80 guesses and ranks #10,694 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 #4,812 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.75, at or below the proven-optimal 3.80, 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

One syllable Say it HAWLSH. 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.