LOCAL
Yes, LOCAL was the Wordle answer on March 13, 2024 (Wordle #998).
As an opener, it rules out about 90.7% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈləʊ.kl̩//ˈloʊ.kl̩/
- Adjective
-
From or in a nearby location.
“We prefer local produce.”
- Adjective
-
Connected directly to a particular computer, processor, etc.; able to be accessed offline.
“local disk drive”
- Noun
-
A person who lives in or near a given place.
“It's easy to tell the locals from the tourists.”
- Noun
-
A branch of a nationwide organization such as a trade union.
“I'm in the TWU, too. Local 6.”
Alternative forms: loc.
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: March 13, 2024 (#998).
See the full page for that puzzle: March 13, 2024 (#998).
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 LOCAL performs as a guess
LOCAL 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 78.1% of games, misses completely in 21.9%, and leaves about 220 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,577 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.71 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 LOCAL 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 LOCAL 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 LOCAL in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
LOCAL can come back 91 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 LOCAL; 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 LOCAL
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to LOCAL.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing LOCAL:
Research on LOCAL
Game-tree analysis and word research for LOCAL, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with LOCAL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.77 guesses and ranks #9,198 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 LOCAL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.71, at or below the proven-optimal 3.77, 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 first syllable Say it LOHKUHL.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, LOCAL is a kind of transport or anesthetic.
Synonyms topical localized
Opposites national general express
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- LOCAL sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 269 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in beginner learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level A2); among the first words English learners study.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.0 of 5).
In a sentence
You are not local people.
Not one of us is local.
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).