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

KNEEL

Yes, KNEEL was the Wordle answer on May 30, 2023 (Wordle #710).

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

Open Solver with KNEEL Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /niːl//kniːl/

Verb

To rest on one's bent knees, sometimes only one; to move to such a position.

Verb

To sink down so that the entrance is level with the pavement, making it easier for passengers to enter.

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: May 30, 2023 (#710).

See the full page for that puzzle: May 30, 2023 (#710).

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

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How KNEEL performs as a guess

KNEEL 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 75.7% of games, misses completely in 24.3%, and leaves about 239 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,742 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.78 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___L K in the 1st position and L in the 5th position K__E_ K in the 1st position and E in the 4th position _N__L N in the 2nd position and L in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe KNEEL 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.

4.32 Entropy (bits)
239 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
89.9% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 40% of evaluated openers
1.63 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How KNEEL 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.

3.78 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#10,742 Rank among openers
Opening with KNEEL left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.78 average. It ranks #10,742 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
53
3 guesses
738
4 guesses
1,260
5 guesses
276
6 guesses
24
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
2 vowels
Common:
ELN

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
27%
All gray
24%

Example solver route

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

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches KNEEL in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

KNEEL can come back 84 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

576 answers
302 answers
220 answers
207 answers
120 answers
106 answers
75 answers
69 answers
62 answers
45 answers
36 answers
32 answers
28 answers
28 answers
26 answers
25 answers
25 answers
23 answers
22 answers
20 answers
20 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
16 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

K5N1E1E1L1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Try next

ROAST ROANY ALLOY STALE CRINE STARK

Strategy after playing KNEEL

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing KNEEL:

24% chance
Suggested:
ROAST
13% chance
Suggested:
ROAST
9% chance
Suggested:
ROANY

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.3% →
ROAST 6.10 bits
12.7% →
ROAST 5.47 bits
9.3% →
ROANY 4.99 bits
8.7% →
ALLOY 4.88 bits
5.1% →
ROAST 4.29 bits
4.5% →
STALE 4.70 bits
3.2% →
ROAST 4.66 bits
2.9% →
CRINE 4.33 bits
2.6% →
STARK 4.63 bits
1.9% →
SHART 4.75 bits

Research on KNEEL

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

Optimal play

Opening with KNEEL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.77 guesses and ranks #9,334 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.91 guesses at best and is rank #4,296 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.78; proven optimal play reaches 3.77. The fixed strategy accounts for the difference.

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 NEEL.

Rhymes with STEEL WHEEL IDEAL STEAL SPIEL

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, KNEEL is a kind of move or rest.

Synonyms kneeling

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
KNEEL 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.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 79 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.8 of 5).

In a sentence

May you kneel for me?
© tatoeba.org contributor Ahha (CC BY 2.0 FR)
I would like it if you kneel for me.
© tatoeba.org contributor Ahha (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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).