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

MOTOR

Yes, MOTOR was the Wordle answer on October 8, 2021 (Wordle #111).

As an opener, it rules out about 89.4% of possible answers.

Open Solver with MOTOR Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈməʊtə//ˈmoʊtəɹ/[ˈmoʊɾɚ]

Noun

A machine or device that converts other energy forms into mechanical energy, or imparts motion.

“The door can close by itself because there's a small motor built into it.”

Noun

A motor car, or automobile, sometimes extended to other powered vehicles, such as goods vehicles.

“Nice motor!”

Adjective

Relating to the ability to move.

“She has excellent motor skills.”

Adjective

Propelled by an internal combustion engine (as opposed to a steam engine or turbine).

Alternative forms: motour

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 8, 2021 (#111).

See the full page for that puzzle: October 8, 2021 (#111).

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 MOTOR performs as a guess

MOTOR 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 74.1% of games, misses completely in 25.9%, and leaves about 252 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,134 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.72 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___R M in the 1st position and R in the 5th position M__O_ M in the 1st position and O in the 4th position _O__R O in the 2nd position and R in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe MOTOR 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.

4.33 Entropy (bits)
252 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
89.4% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 40% of evaluated openers
1.62 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How MOTOR 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.

3.72 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#8,134 Rank among openers
Opening with MOTOR left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.72 average. It ranks #8,134 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
60
3 guesses
828
4 guesses
1,182
5 guesses
262
6 guesses
19
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ORT

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
74%
Green tile
30%
All gray
26%

Example solver route

R O A T E
T O R S O
M O T O R

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches MOTOR in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

MOTOR can come back 97 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

614 answers
291 answers
266 answers
109 answers
102 answers
95 answers
94 answers
79 answers
71 answers
55 answers
44 answers
38 answers
34 answers
33 answers
32 answers
29 answers
23 answers
22 answers
17 answers
17 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
14 answers
12 answers
12 answers
12 answers
10 answers
10 answers
9 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

M3O1T1O1R1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

SLANE SAICE SALET ARISE LAIDE LEANY

Strategy after playing MOTOR

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing MOTOR:

26% chance
Suggested:
SLANE
12% chance
Suggested:
SAICE
11% chance
Suggested:
SALET

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

25.9% →
SLANE 6.26 bits
12.3% →
SAICE 5.49 bits
11.2% →
SALET 5.71 bits
4.6% →
ARISE 4.93 bits
4.3% →
LAIDE 4.00 bits
4.0% →
SLANE 5.22 bits
4.0% →
LEANY 4.43 bits
3.3% →
SLIPE 5.23 bits
3.0% →
CRANE 4.55 bits
2.3% →
PLACE 4.40 bits

Research on MOTOR

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

Optimal play

Opening with MOTOR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.75 guesses and ranks #7,844 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 MOTOR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.72, at or below the proven-optimal 3.75, 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 MOHTUR.

Rhymes with VOTER ROTOR

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, MOTOR is a kind of machine or agent.

Synonyms DRIVE motive take

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
MOTOR sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 34 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.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 7, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 84 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.

In a sentence

The problem is in the motor.
© tatoeba.org contributor rkqb (CC BY 2.0 FR)
The motor started to run.
© tatoeba.org contributor AlanF_US (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).