MINUS
Yes, MINUS was the Wordle answer on May 28, 2024 (Wordle #1074).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈmaɪ.nəs//ˈmɑe.nəs/[ˈmɑe̯.nəs]
- Preposition
-
Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity).
“Seven minus two is five.”
- Preposition
-
Without; deprived of.
“I walked out minus my coat.”
- Noun
-
The minus sign (−).
- Noun
-
A negative quantity.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English mynus, from Latin minus, neuter form of minor, comparative form of parvus (“small, little”), from the Proto-Indo-European root *mey- (“few, small”).
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it MYNUHS.
Rhymes with SINUS
Related meanings
Synonyms negative unfavorable
Opposites plus advantageous
In a sentence
What is two minus two?
How much is two minus two?
Use MINUS in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 90.2% of possible answers.
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: May 28, 2024 (#1074).
See the full page for that puzzle: May 28, 2024 (#1074).
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 →MINUS in Connections
5 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #972
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MINUS appeared in SYMBOLS USED IN ARITHMETIC (green group).
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· Puzzle #699
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MINUS appeared in WITHOUT (green group).
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· Puzzle #686
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MINUS appeared in CALCULATOR BUTTONS (yellow group).
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· Puzzle #626
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MINUS appeared in MADE WITH HORIZONTAL LINES (blue group).
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· Puzzle #411
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MINUS appeared in DRAWBACK (blue group).
How MINUS performs as a guess
MINUS 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 74.4% of games, misses completely in 25.6%, and leaves about 233 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,694 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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 MINUS 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 MINUS 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 MINUS in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
MINUS can come back 85 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 MINUS; 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 MINUS
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to MINUS.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing MINUS:
Research on MINUS
Game-tree analysis and word research for MINUS, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with MINUS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.73 guesses and ranks #6,559 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.84 guesses at best and is rank #2,515 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.68, at or below the proven-optimal 3.73, 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
- MINUS sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 10 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- 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 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).