LADLE
Yes, LADLE was the Wordle answer on March 15, 2025 (Wordle #1365).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈleɪ.dəl//ˈlæɪ.dəl/
- Noun
-
A deep-bowled spoonlike utensil with a long, usually curved, handle.
- Noun
-
A container used in a foundry or steel mill to transport and pour out molten metal.
- Verb
-
To pour or serve something with a ladle.
“One worker ladled molten steel into the shot sleeve.”
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English ladel, from Old English hlædel, derived from Proto-Germanic *hlaþaną (“to load”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂- (“to put, lay out”), same source as Lithuanian kloti (“to spread”), equivalent to lade + -le (“agent suffix”).
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it LAYDUHL.
Related meanings
Synonyms LADEN
In a sentence
He had a ladle in his right hand.
She had a ladle in her right hand.
Use LADLE in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 92.8% of possible answers.
Wordle status
A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.
Playable guess
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: March 15, 2025 (#1365).
See the full page for that puzzle: March 15, 2025 (#1365).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →LADLE in Connections
2 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #609
Reveal this appearance's category
LADLE appeared in USED WHEN SERVING SOUP (green group).
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· Puzzle #105
Reveal this appearance's category
LADLE appeared in KITCHEN UTENSILS (yellow group).
How LADLE performs as a guess
LADLE is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 81.0% of games, misses completely in 19.0%, and leaves about 171 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,033 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe LADLE 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.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How LADLE 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.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches LADLE in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
LADLE can come back 89 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for LADLE; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing LADLE
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to LADLE.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing LADLE:
Research on LADLE
Game-tree analysis and word research for LADLE, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with LADLE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.74 guesses and ranks #7,225 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 LADLE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.74; proven optimal play reaches 3.74. 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- LADLE 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.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.4 of 5).
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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).