5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier opener

MERCY

Yes, MERCY was the Wordle answer on October 18, 2023 (Wordle #851).

As an opener, it rules out about 92.8% of possible answers.

Open Solver with MERCY Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈmɜːsi//ˈmɝsi/

Noun

Relenting; forbearance to cause or allow harm to another.

“She took mercy on him and quit embarrassing him.”

Noun

Forgiveness or compassion, especially toward those less fortunate.

“Have mercy on the poor and assist them if you can.”

Verb

To feel mercy

Verb

To show mercy; to pardon or treat leniently because of mercy

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

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: October 18, 2023 (#851).

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

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How MERCY performs as a guess

MERCY is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 84.5% of games, misses completely in 15.5%, and leaves about 169 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #3,348 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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.

Useful pattern pages

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

M___Y M in the 1st position and Y in the 5th position M__C_ M in the 1st position and C in the 4th position _E__Y E in the 2nd position and Y in the 5th position

Try next

SAINT SLANT STAIR TRAIN SAULT SHALT
Words starting with M Words ending with Y

First-turn measures

4.73 Entropy (bits)
169 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
92.8% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 67% of evaluated openers
1.21 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How MERCY 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
99.9% Win rate
0.70 Volatility
#3,348 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, MERCY ranks #3,348 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
59
3 guesses
944
4 guesses
1,138
5 guesses
193
6 guesses
16
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
ER

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
84%
Green tile
36%
All gray
16%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S I L E D
S P E R M
F E M U R
M E R C Y

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches MERCY in 5 guesses. See the trap-family guide for similar endgames.

Feedback distribution

102 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

366
334
216
198
174
86
81
64
51
45
40
40
36
34
32
30
29
26
25
24
23
20
17
17
17
17
16
16
14
14

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing MERCY:

16% chance
Suggested:
SAINT
14% chance
Suggested:
SLANT
9% chance
Suggested:
STAIR

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

15.5% →
SAINT 6.33 bits
14.2% →
SLANT 5.74 bits
9.2% →
STAIR 4.49 bits
8.4% →
TRAIN 5.36 bits
7.4% →
SAULT 4.73 bits
3.6% →
SLANT 5.18 bits
3.4% →
SLANT 4.74 bits
2.7% →
SAULT 4.13 bits
2.2% →
SAULT 4.43 bits
1.9% →
SHALT 4.70 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

M3E1R1C3Y4
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 13 points

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