Possible answer Not used yet C tier for first-turn info

LYNCH

LYNCH is on the solver's possible-answer list and has no appearance in our globally completed Wordle history.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /lɪnt͡ʃ/

Verb

To execute (somebody) without a proper legal trial or procedure, especially by hanging and backed by a mob.

Verb

To castigate severely.

Noun

Alternative form of linch.

Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.

Etymology

First attested 1835, from Lynch law, which appeared in 1811. There is a popular claim that it was named after William Lynch, but equally strong arguments would have it named after Charles Lynch. For the surname, see Lynch. Ultimately a possible doublet of linch.

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

How it sounds

One syllable Say it LIHNCH.

Rhymes with PINCH FINCH WINCH CINCH SYNCH

Use LYNCH in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 89.3% of possible answers.

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

No completed appearance

No appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.

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

How LYNCH performs as a guess

LYNCH 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 74.3% of games, misses completely in 25.7%, and leaves about 254 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,682 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.70 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.

First-turn measures

All four describe LYNCH 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.

4.23 Entropy (bits)
254 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
89.3% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How LYNCH 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.

3.70 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#6,682 Rank among openers
Opening with LYNCH left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.70 average. It ranks #6,682 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
47
3 guesses
872
4 guesses
1,200
5 guesses
210
6 guesses
23

Composition

5/5 unique
0 vowels
Common:
LN

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
74%
Green tile
18%
All gray
26%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I M Y
L Y N C H

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches LYNCH in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

LYNCH can come back 83 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

613 answers
297 answers
236 answers
185 answers
120 answers
99 answers
70 answers
59 answers
52 answers
51 answers
48 answers
46 answers
39 answers
36 answers
32 answers
29 answers
26 answers
26 answers
25 answers
23 answers
22 answers
21 answers
16 answers
16 answers
12 answers
12 answers
11 answers
10 answers
9 answers
8 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

L1Y4N1C3H4
Total: 13 points

Words With Friends

Total: 14 points

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

Strategy after playing LYNCH

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing LYNCH:

26% chance
Suggested:
ARISE
12% chance
Suggested:
ARISE
10% chance
Suggested:
IRATE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

25.7% →
ARISE 6.20 bits
12.5% →
ARISE 5.37 bits
9.9% →
IRATE 5.46 bits
7.8% →
SARED 5.01 bits
5.0% →
AROSE 5.49 bits
4.2% →
TORSE 5.62 bits
2.9% →
DALLY 4.23 bits
2.5% →
SKATE 4.25 bits
2.2% →
TIARE 4.79 bits
2.1% →
TORSE 4.55 bits

Research on LYNCH

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

Optimal play

Opening with LYNCH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.76 guesses and ranks #8,579 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.88 guesses at best and is rank #3,687 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.70, at or below the proven-optimal 3.76, 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
LYNCH sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 9 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 (3.1 of 5).

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).