LEASH
Yes, LEASH was the Wordle answer on November 10, 2023 (Wordle #874).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /liːʃ/
- Noun
-
A strap, cord or rope with which to restrain an animal, often a dog.
- Noun
-
A string with a loop at the end for lifting warp threads, in a loom.
- Verb
-
To fasten or secure with a leash.
- Verb
-
to curb, restrain
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English leesshe, leysche, lesshe, a variant of more original lease, from Middle English lees, leese, leece, lese, from Old French lesse (modern French laisse), either from Latin laxa, feminine form of laxus (“loose”) or, more probably, from a deverbal of Old French lesser, laissier, from Latin laxāre (“loose”); compare lax. Doublet of laisse.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it LEESH.
Related meanings
Synonyms THREE lead iii rope collar trio
In a sentence
The dog is free from the leash.
Keep your dog on a leash.
Use LEASH in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 95.6% 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: November 10, 2023 (#874).
See the full page for that puzzle: November 10, 2023 (#874).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Add your result and a quick difficulty rating to help explain how this puzzle played.
See the public dataThank you. Your result now helps describe this puzzle.
See what the public sample says →How LEASH performs as a guess
LEASH 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 89.3% of games, misses completely in 10.7%, and leaves about 104 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,337 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.61 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 LEASH 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 LEASH 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 LEASH in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
LEASH can come back 123 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 LEASH; 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 LEASH
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to LEASH.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing LEASH:
Research on LEASH
Game-tree analysis and word research for LEASH, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with LEASH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.65 guesses and ranks #1,695 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 LEASH can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.61, at or below the proven-optimal 3.65, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- LEASH sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 3 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.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.7 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); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).