NORTH
Yes, NORTH was the Wordle answer on January 21, 2024 (Wordle #946).
As an opener, it rules out about 93.8% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /nɔːθ//noːθ//noɹθ/
- Noun
-
The direction towards the pole to the left-hand side of someone facing east, specifically 0°, or (on another celestial object) the direction towards the pole lying on the northern side of the invariable plane.
“Minnesota is in the north of the USA.”
- Noun
-
The up or positive direction.
“Stock prices are heading back towards the north.”
- Adjective
-
Of or pertaining to the north; northern.
“He lived in north Germany.”
- Adjective
-
Toward the north; northward.
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
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: January 21, 2024 (#946).
See the full page for that puzzle: January 21, 2024 (#946).
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 →How NORTH performs as a guess
NORTH 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 82.8% of games, misses completely in 17.2%, and leaves about 147 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,563 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.61 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 NORTH 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 NORTH 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 NORTH in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
NORTH can come back 107 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 NORTH; 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 NORTH
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to NORTH.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing NORTH:
Research on NORTH
Game-tree analysis and word research for NORTH, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with NORTH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,012 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.78 guesses at best and is rank #801 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.61, at or below the proven-optimal 3.66, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, NORTH is a kind of point or location.
Synonyms n northward northern northwest northeast northwestern
Opposites SOUTH
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- NORTH sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 219 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 A2); among the first words English learners study.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.4 of 5).
In a sentence
Is that the North Star?
We need to find the north.
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).