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

LAPEL

Yes, LAPEL was the Wordle answer on September 10, 2021 (Wordle #83).

As an opener, it rules out about 92.5% of possible answers.

Open Solver with LAPEL Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ləˈpɛl//ləˈpel/

Noun

Each of the two triangular pieces of cloth on the front of a jacket or coat that are folded back below the throat, leaving a triangular opening between.

Alternative forms: lapelle, lappel

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 10, 2021 (#83).

See the full page for that puzzle: September 10, 2021 (#83).

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

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How LAPEL performs as a guess

LAPEL 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 81.5% of games, misses completely in 18.5%, and leaves about 178 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,011 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

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

L___L L in the 1st position and L in the 5th position L__E_ L in the 1st position and E in the 4th position _A__L A in the 2nd position and L in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe LAPEL 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.

4.64 Entropy (bits)
178 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
92.5% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 61% of evaluated openers
1.30 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How LAPEL 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
99.96% Solved within six
0.71 Spread of game lengths
#9,011 Rank among openers
Opening with LAPEL left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.71 means those games clustered within about 0.71 of a guess of the 3.74 average. It ranks #9,011 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
57
3 guesses
786
4 guesses
1,236
5 guesses
254
6 guesses
19
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AEL

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
82%
Green tile
33%
All gray
18%

Example solver route

R O A T E
L A D E N
L A B E L
L A P E L

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches LAPEL in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

LAPEL can come back 95 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

439 answers
290 answers
198 answers
162 answers
145 answers
134 answers
103 answers
83 answers
66 answers
58 answers
57 answers
43 answers
39 answers
34 answers
32 answers
28 answers
22 answers
22 answers
21 answers
20 answers
18 answers
17 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

L1A1P3E1L1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Try next

SNORT NOIRE TRAIN SENOR REAST RAINY

Strategy after playing LAPEL

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing LAPEL:

18% chance
Suggested:
SNORT
12% chance
Suggested:
NOIRE
8% chance
Suggested:
TRAIN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

18.5% →
SNORT 5.89 bits
12.2% →
NOIRE 5.23 bits
8.3% →
TRAIN 5.25 bits
6.8% →
SENOR 4.34 bits
6.1% →
REAST 4.85 bits
5.6% →
RAINY 4.04 bits
4.3% →
CLOUT 4.53 bits
3.5% →
POSIT 4.90 bits
2.8% →
BLITE 4.27 bits
2.4% →
PRONE 4.80 bits

Research on LAPEL

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

Optimal play

Opening with LAPEL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.74 guesses and ranks #7,358 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 LAPEL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.74, at or below the proven-optimal 3.74, 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 LUHPEHL.

Rhymes with HOTEL SMELL SHELL SPELL INTEL

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, LAPEL is a kind of lap.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
LAPEL 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.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 11, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 62 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.1 of 5).

In a sentence

He grabbed him by the lapel.
© tatoeba.org contributor felidad (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Pin the flower on your lapel.
© tatoeba.org contributor sharptoothed (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); Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).