Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier for first-turn info

INCUR

Yes, INCUR was the Wordle answer on July 2, 2025 (Wordle #1474).

As an opener, it rules out about 92.7% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈkɜː//ɪnˈkɝ/

Verb

To bring upon oneself or expose oneself to, especially something inconvenient, harmful, or onerous; to become liable or subject to.

“Cruelty incurs calamity.”

Verb

To enter or pass into.

Alternative forms: encur

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

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

Past Wordle answer

Used once

Past Wordle answer: July 2, 2025 (#1474).

See the full page for that puzzle: July 2, 2025 (#1474).

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

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How INCUR performs as a guess

INCUR 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 80.9% of games, misses completely in 19.1%, and leaves about 173 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,022 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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 INCUR 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.

4.65 Entropy (bits)
173 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
92.7% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 62% of evaluated openers
1.30 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How INCUR 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#3,022 Rank among openers
Opening with INCUR left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #3,022 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
56
3 guesses
930
4 guesses
1,188
5 guesses
159
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

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
INRU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
81%
Green tile
18%
All gray
19%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I C K
I N C U R

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches INCUR in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

INCUR can come back 93 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

453 answers
248 answers
207 answers
134 answers
133 answers
106 answers
104 answers
100 answers
97 answers
69 answers
51 answers
47 answers
47 answers
46 answers
34 answers
31 answers
30 answers
28 answers
26 answers
25 answers
23 answers
22 answers
22 answers
20 answers
18 answers
16 answers
15 answers
13 answers
11 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

I1N1C3U1R1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Strategy after playing INCUR

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing INCUR:

19% chance
Suggested:
SLATE
10% chance
Suggested:
PRATE
9% chance
Suggested:
SALET

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

19.1%
SLATE 6.50 bits
10.4%
PRATE 5.46 bits
8.7%
SALET 5.48 bits
5.6%
SALET 5.33 bits
5.6%
SLATY 4.96 bits
4.5%
ROAST 3.91 bits
4.4%
SHALE 5.52 bits
4.2%
STAGE 4.71 bits
4.1%
TRIDE 4.70 bits
2.9%
CRATE 4.90 bits

Research on INCUR

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

Optimal play

Opening with INCUR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.71 guesses and ranks #5,774 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 INCUR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.71, 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 second syllable Say it IHNKUR.

Rhymes with OCCUR REFER INTER DETER DEFER

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, INCUR is a kind of subject or change.

Synonyms get find receive obtain acquire

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
INCUR 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.
Learner level
Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (2.5 of 5).

In a sentence

You do not want to incur the wrath of God.
© tatoeba.org contributor darinmex (CC BY 2.0 FR)
If you are not careful, you will incur prohibitive expenses.
© tatoeba.org contributor AlanF_US (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).