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

MOUSE

Yes, MOUSE was the Wordle answer on May 29, 2023 (Wordle #709).

As an opener, it rules out about 94.0% of possible answers.

Open Solver with MOUSE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /maʊs//mʌʊs//maʊz/

Noun

Any mammal of the many rodent families (especially Muridae) that have a small body and a long tail.

Noun

An input device that is moved over a pad or other flat surface to produce a corresponding movement of a pointer on a graphical display.

“My mouse needs new batteries.”

Verb

To move cautiously or furtively, in the manner of a mouse (the rodent) (frequently used in the phrasal verb to mouse around).

Verb

To hunt or catch mice (the rodents), usually of cats.

Alternative forms: mowse

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: May 29, 2023 (#709).

See the full page for that puzzle: May 29, 2023 (#709).

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

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How MOUSE performs as a guess

MOUSE 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 86.0% of games, misses completely in 14.0%, and leaves about 143 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,478 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.69 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__S_ M in the 1st position and S in the 4th position _O__E O in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe MOUSE 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.

5.03 Entropy (bits)
143 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
94.0% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 85% of evaluated openers
0.91 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How MOUSE 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.

3.69 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.73 Spread of game lengths
#6,478 Rank among openers
Opening with MOUSE left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.73 means those games clustered within about 0.73 of a guess of the 3.69 average. It ranks #6,478 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
65
3 guesses
879
4 guesses
1,138
5 guesses
249
6 guesses
21
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

5/5 unique
3 vowels
Common:
EOSU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
86%
Green tile
40%
All gray
14%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L U M P
M O U S E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches MOUSE in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

MOUSE can come back 101 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

348 answers
332 answers
152 answers
145 answers
116 answers
105 answers
89 answers
74 answers
54 answers
49 answers
46 answers
42 answers
41 answers
38 answers
37 answers
34 answers
30 answers
29 answers
29 answers
27 answers
25 answers
24 answers
24 answers
24 answers
20 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

M3O1U1S1E1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Try next

ALTER TRAIL ADORN REACT SLANT CLARY

Strategy after playing MOUSE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing MOUSE:

15% chance
Suggested:
ALTER
14% chance
Suggested:
TRAIL
6% chance
Suggested:
ADORN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

14.7% →
ALTER 5.36 bits
14.0% →
TRAIL 5.74 bits
6.4% →
ADORN 5.13 bits
6.1% →
REACT 4.51 bits
4.9% →
SLANT 5.11 bits
4.4% →
CLARY 4.47 bits
3.7% →
CURLY 4.36 bits
3.1% →
STEER 4.57 bits
2.3% →
PEART 3.78 bits
2.1% →
STOOL 3.70 bits

Research on MOUSE

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

Optimal play

Opening with MOUSE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.68 guesses and ranks #3,606 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 MOUSE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.69; proven optimal play reaches 3.68. 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.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it MOWS.

Rhymes with HOUSE ROUSE GAUSS LOUSE DOUSE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, MOUSE is a kind of rodent or bruise.

Synonyms SNEAK CREEP

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
MOUSE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 20 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.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 3, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 95 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.1 of 5).

In a sentence

Are you a mouse as well?
© tatoeba.org contributor nonong (CC BY 2.0 FR)
The girl has a mouse.
© tatoeba.org contributor Dreamk33 (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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).