Accepted guess Not a possible answer C tier for first-turn info

NIFES

NIFES is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.

No dictionary definition for NIFES is recorded in our sourced data.

Meaning and pronunciation

We do not have a sourced definition for this word yet.

Check NIFES on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Use NIFES in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 93.2% of possible answers.

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

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

No completed appearance

No appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.

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

How NIFES performs as a guess

Wordle accepts NIFES as a guess, but the solver does not list it as a possible answer.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 83.9% of games, misses completely in 16.1%, and leaves about 162 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,429 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.

First-turn measures

All four describe NIFES 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.

4.70 Entropy (bits)
162 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
93.2% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How NIFES 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
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#6,429 Rank among openers
Opening with NIFES left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.69 average. It ranks #6,429 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
68
3 guesses
826
4 guesses
1,236
5 guesses
207
6 guesses
16

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
EINS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
84%
Green tile
24%
All gray
16%

Feedback distribution

NIFES can come back 94 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

385 answers
302 answers
188 answers
150 answers
138 answers
134 answers
119 answers
74 answers
74 answers
73 answers
68 answers
49 answers
46 answers
45 answers
41 answers
38 answers
30 answers
22 answers
22 answers
19 answers
19 answers
19 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
14 answers
11 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

N1I1F4E1S1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Strategy after playing NIFES

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing NIFES:

16% chance
Suggested:
CORAL
13% chance
Suggested:
REATE
8% chance
Suggested:
SLART

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.1% →
CORAL 5.87 bits
12.7% →
REATE 5.57 bits
7.9% →
SLART 5.34 bits
6.3% →
OATER 4.23 bits
5.8% →
ROANY 4.91 bits
5.6% →
SLART 4.98 bits
5.0% →
TRAIL 5.23 bits
3.1% →
LEARE 4.71 bits
3.1% →
ROANY 4.19 bits
3.1% →
DIRTY 3.92 bits

Research on NIFES

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

Optimal play

Opening with NIFES, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.71 guesses and ranks #5,835 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 NIFES can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.69, at or below the proven-optimal 3.71, 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.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT).