LIBEL
Yes, LIBEL was the Wordle answer on October 29, 2022 (Wordle #497).
As an opener, it rules out about 90.3% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪbəl/
- Noun
-
A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.
- Noun
-
The act or tort of displaying such a statement publicly.
- Verb
-
To defame (someone), especially in a manner that meets the legal definition of libel.
“He libelled her when he published that.”
- Verb
-
To proceed against (goods, a ship, etc.) by filing a legal claim.
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
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: October 29, 2022 (#497).
See the full page for that puzzle: October 29, 2022 (#497).
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 →How LIBEL performs as a guess
LIBEL 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 77.5% of games, misses completely in 22.5%, and leaves about 230 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,646 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe LIBEL 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 LIBEL 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 LIBEL in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
LIBEL can come back 84 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 LIBEL; 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 LIBEL
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to LIBEL.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing LIBEL:
Research on LIBEL
Game-tree analysis and word research for LIBEL, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with LIBEL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.76 guesses and ranks #8,934 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 LIBEL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.78; proven optimal play reaches 3.76. 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, LIBEL is a kind of defamation or complaint.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- LIBEL 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.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.5 of 5).
In a sentence
The actress sued the magazine for libel.
Mr Miura brought an action of libel against a weekly magazine.
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).