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

KETCH

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

As an opener, it rules out about 90.1% of possible answers.

Open Solver with KETCH Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /kɛt͡ʃ/

Noun

A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.

Verb

Pronunciation spelling of catch.

Noun

A hangman.

Verb

To hang.

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

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 KETCH performs as a guess

Wordle accepts KETCH 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 78.3% of games, misses completely in 21.7%, and leaves about 236 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,620 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.73 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

K___H K in the 1st position and H in the 5th position K__C_ K in the 1st position and C in the 4th position _E__H E in the 2nd position and H in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in KETCH.

First-turn measures

All four describe KETCH 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.

4.33 Entropy (bits)
236 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.1% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 40% of evaluated openers
1.62 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How KETCH 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.

3.73 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#8,620 Rank among openers
Opening with KETCH solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.73 average. It ranks #8,620 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
41
3 guesses
822
4 guesses
1,235
5 guesses
238
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
1 vowels
Common:
ET

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
78%
Green tile
23%
All gray
22%

Feedback distribution

KETCH can come back 78 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

514 answers
420 answers
225 answers
126 answers
122 answers
117 answers
59 answers
56 answers
51 answers
49 answers
40 answers
37 answers
34 answers
32 answers
32 answers
32 answers
27 answers
26 answers
26 answers
21 answers
21 answers
21 answers
20 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

K5E1T1C3H4
Total: 14 points

Words With Friends

Total: 14 points

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

Try next

SALON RAILE SAINT RANEE SAREE CORAL

Strategy after playing KETCH

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing KETCH:

22% chance
Suggested:
SALON
18% chance
Suggested:
RAILE
9% chance
Suggested:
SAINT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

21.7% →
SALON 5.85 bits
17.7% →
RAILE 5.33 bits
9.5% →
SAINT 5.48 bits
5.3% →
RANEE 4.57 bits
5.1% →
SAREE 4.79 bits
4.9% →
CORAL 5.36 bits
2.5% →
AROSE 4.74 bits
2.4% →
SOILY 4.78 bits
2.1% →
SLINK 4.63 bits
2.1% →
SORAL 4.77 bits

Research on KETCH

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

Optimal play

Opening with KETCH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.76 guesses and ranks #8,540 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 KETCH can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.73, at or below the proven-optimal 3.76, 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 KEHCH.

Rhymes with FETCH

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, KETCH is a kind of vessel.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
KETCH sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words of written English; the band marks it as an uncommon word many players still recognize.

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).