LOWLY
Yes, LOWLY was the Wordle answer on March 31, 2022 (Wordle #285).
As an opener, it rules out about 83.1% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈləʊli//ˈloʊli/
- Adjective
-
Not high; not elevated in place; low.
- Adjective
-
Low in rank or social importance.
- Adverb
-
In a low manner; humbly; meekly; modestly.
- Adverb
-
In a low condition; meanly.
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 31, 2022 (#285).
See the full page for that puzzle: March 31, 2022 (#285).
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 LOWLY performs as a guess
LOWLY 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 64.1% of games, misses completely in 35.9%, and leaves about 401 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #13,286 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.86 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 LOWLY 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 LOWLY 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 LOWLY in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
LOWLY can come back 70 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 LOWLY; 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 LOWLY
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to LOWLY.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing LOWLY:
Research on LOWLY
Game-tree analysis and word research for LOWLY, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with LOWLY, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.88 guesses and ranks #13,357 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 LOWLY can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.86, at or below the proven-optimal 3.88, 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 LOHLEE.
Related meanings
Synonyms SMALL low base secondary humble PETTY
Opposites senior superior NOBLE skilled
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- LOWLY 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 (2.2 of 5).
In a sentence
The affection of the lowly is like a wall of sand.
I'm just a lowly serf.
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).