5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier for first-turn info

MAYBE

Yes, MAYBE was the Wordle answer on June 15, 2023 (Wordle #726).

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈmeɪ.bi/[ˈmeɪ̯.bi]/mɛˈbiː/

Adverb

Perhaps, possibly.

“A small extra effort now can maybe save you much work later.”

Adverb

Perhaps that is true (expressing no commitment to a decision or a neutral viewpoint to a statement).

Adjective

Possible; uncertain.

Noun

Something that is possibly true.

Alternative forms: mebbe, may-be

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

Etymology

From an ellipsis of Middle English it may be, equivalent to may + be. Compare mayhap.

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

How it sounds

Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it MAYBEE.

Related meanings

Synonyms perhaps possibly

In a sentence

Maybe you don't have to.
© tatoeba.org contributor megamanenm (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Maybe now is the time.
© tatoeba.org contributor CM (CC BY 2.0 FR)

Use MAYBE in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 92.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with MAYBE Open Word Finder

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

Used once

Past Wordle answer: June 15, 2023 (#726).

See the full page for that puzzle: June 15, 2023 (#726).

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

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How verification and withdrawal work

The answer word and timezone are used transiently to verify this page, then discarded. The receipt prevents duplicate submissions and lets this browser withdraw later; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. Read the full privacy details.

How MAYBE performs as a guess

MAYBE 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 83.6% of games, misses completely in 16.4%, and leaves about 176 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,264 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.75 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

M___E M in the 1st position and E in the 5th position M__B_ M in the 1st position and B in the 4th position _A__E A in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in MAYBE.

First-turn measures

All four describe MAYBE 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.

4.59 Entropy (bits)
176 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
92.6% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How MAYBE 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.

3.75 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.71 Spread of game lengths
#9,264 Rank among openers
Opening with MAYBE left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.71 means those games clustered within about 0.71 of a guess of the 3.75 average. It ranks #9,264 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
51
3 guesses
793
4 guesses
1,221
5 guesses
270
6 guesses
15

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AE

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
84%
Green tile
33%
All gray
16%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S M I L Y
M A Y B E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches MAYBE in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

MAYBE can come back 86 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

390 answers
303 answers
247 answers
211 answers
151 answers
92 answers
92 answers
79 answers
64 answers
53 answers
50 answers
41 answers
38 answers
38 answers
37 answers
37 answers
29 answers
28 answers
26 answers
25 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

M3A1Y4B3E1
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 13 points

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

Try next

SNORT SLIER SLART SIREN SOILY ALERT

Strategy after playing MAYBE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing MAYBE:

16% chance
Suggested:
SNORT
13% chance
Suggested:
SLIER
10% chance
Suggested:
SLART

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.4% →
SNORT 5.93 bits
12.7% →
SLIER 5.19 bits
10.4% →
SLART 5.41 bits
8.9% →
SIREN 4.54 bits
6.3% →
SOILY 4.46 bits
3.9% →
ALERT 4.86 bits
3.9% →
SLART 4.47 bits
3.3% →
TALON 4.26 bits
2.7% →
SLART 3.56 bits
2.2% →
BRUNT 4.81 bits

Research on MAYBE

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

Optimal play

Opening with MAYBE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.74 guesses and ranks #7,418 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 MAYBE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.75; proven optimal play reaches 3.74. 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.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
MAYBE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 282 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 A1); among the first words English learners study.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sound (2.3 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).