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

NOULS

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

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

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check NOULS on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Use NOULS 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 NOULS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts NOULS 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 80.6% of games, misses completely in 19.4%, and leaves about 163 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,762 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.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

First-turn measures

All four describe NOULS 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.

4.80 Entropy (bits)
163 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
93.2% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How NOULS 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.

3.61 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#1,762 Rank among openers
Opening with NOULS left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.61 average. It ranks #1,762 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
48
3 guesses
1,016
4 guesses
1,096
5 guesses
178
6 guesses
14

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
LNOSU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
81%
Green tile
26%
All gray
19%

Feedback distribution

NOULS can come back 89 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

462 answers
210 answers
186 answers
161 answers
127 answers
99 answers
89 answers
71 answers
65 answers
54 answers
50 answers
47 answers
44 answers
44 answers
44 answers
41 answers
37 answers
34 answers
33 answers
32 answers
30 answers
28 answers
26 answers
24 answers
21 answers
20 answers
19 answers
19 answers
18 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

N1O1U1L1S1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Strategy after playing NOULS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing NOULS:

19% chance
Suggested:
TRACE
9% chance
Suggested:
PRATE
8% chance
Suggested:
REACT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

19.4% →
TRACE 6.35 bits
8.8% →
PRATE 5.92 bits
7.8% →
REACT 5.40 bits
6.8% →
RAINE 5.21 bits
5.3% →
TRADE 5.28 bits
4.2% →
CARTE 4.56 bits
3.7% →
CADRE 4.80 bits
3.0% →
TARGE 4.72 bits
2.7% →
MAIRE 4.59 bits
2.3% →
STIPE 4.65 bits

Research on NOULS

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

Optimal play

Opening with NOULS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.69 guesses and ranks #3,850 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 NOULS can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.61, at or below the proven-optimal 3.69, 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).