5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier opener

KNIFE

Yes, KNIFE was the Wordle answer on September 18, 2025 (Wordle #1552).

As an opener, it rules out about 90.4% of possible answers.

Open Solver with KNIFE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈnaɪ̯f//ˈnɐɪ̯f//ˈnɜɪ̯f/

Noun

A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.

“He was looking for a knife to chop some steak.”

Noun

A weapon designed with the aforementioned specifications intended for slashing or stabbing but too short to be called a sword; a dagger.

Verb

To cut with a knife.

Verb

To use a knife to injure or kill by stabbing, slashing, or otherwise using the sharp edge of the knife as a weapon.

“She was repeatedly knifed in the chest.”

Alternative forms: knyfe, knive

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: September 18, 2025 (#1552).

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

Wordle Observatory

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About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How KNIFE performs as a guess

KNIFE is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 77.8% of games, misses completely in 22.2%, and leaves about 227 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #8,922 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.74 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.

Useful pattern pages

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

K___E K in the 1st position and E in the 5th position K__F_ K in the 1st position and F in the 4th position _N__E N in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Try next

SORAL ALTER SLART RATIO ROAST LEARN
Words starting with K Words ending with E

First-turn measures

4.35 Entropy (bits)
227 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
90.4% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 42% of evaluated openers
1.60 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How KNIFE 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.

3.74 Avg guesses
99.9% Win rate
0.72 Volatility
#8,922 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, KNIFE ranks #8,922 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
59
3 guesses
792
4 guesses
1,221
5 guesses
260
6 guesses
19
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
EIN

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
78%
Green tile
31%
All gray
22%

Example solver route

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

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches KNIFE in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

86 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

524
350
233
170
153
77
67
58
53
51
46
43
42
37
29
26
26
21
19
19
19
17
17
16
15
15
13
11
11
11

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing KNIFE:

22% chance
Suggested:
SORAL
15% chance
Suggested:
ALTER
10% chance
Suggested:
SLART

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

22.2% →
SORAL 5.96 bits
14.8% →
ALTER 5.35 bits
9.9% →
SLART 5.32 bits
7.2% →
RATIO 5.00 bits
6.5% →
ROAST 5.15 bits
3.3% →
LEARN 4.43 bits
2.8% →
SLART 4.81 bits
2.5% →
CHALK 4.72 bits
2.2% →
SLART 3.90 bits
2.2% →
COAST 4.51 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

K5N1I1F4E1
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 13 points

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