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

NOLLS

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

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

plural of noll

Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it NOHLZ.

Rhymes with GOALS ROLES HOLES ROLLS SOULS

Use NOLLS in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 90.0% 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 NOLLS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts NOLLS 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 75.6% of games, misses completely in 24.4%, and leaves about 238 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,582 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.71 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 NOLLS 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.

4.21 Entropy (bits)
238 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.0% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How NOLLS 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.

3.71 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#7,582 Rank among openers
Opening with NOLLS left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.71 average. It ranks #7,582 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
41
3 guesses
858
4 guesses
1,206
5 guesses
229
6 guesses
18

Composition

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
LNOS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
24%
All gray
24%

Feedback distribution

NOLLS can come back 71 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

581 answers
280 answers
217 answers
182 answers
155 answers
121 answers
75 answers
71 answers
62 answers
57 answers
56 answers
45 answers
43 answers
40 answers
39 answers
38 answers
27 answers
21 answers
21 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
14 answers
14 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
10 answers
9 answers
9 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

N1O1L1L1S1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Strategy after playing NOLLS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing NOLLS:

24% chance
Suggested:
TIARE
12% chance
Suggested:
STARE
9% chance
Suggested:
TIARE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.4% →
TIARE 6.28 bits
11.7% →
STARE 5.76 bits
9.1% →
TIARE 5.52 bits
7.6% →
CLEAR 5.36 bits
6.5% →
CRATE 5.19 bits
5.1% →
CARTE 4.70 bits
3.1% →
TARGE 4.72 bits
3.0% →
SAINE 4.59 bits
2.6% →
WAITE 4.72 bits
2.4% →
RAIKE 4.33 bits

Research on NOLLS

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

Optimal play

Opening with NOLLS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.78 guesses and ranks #9,626 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 NOLLS can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.71, at or below the proven-optimal 3.78, 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); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD).