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

NOUPS

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 90.6% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check NOUPS on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

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

Not used yet

No past answer date found.

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

How NOUPS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts NOUPS 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 74.8% of games, misses completely in 25.2%, and leaves about 224 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,678 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.65 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 NOUPS 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.

4.46 Entropy (bits)
224 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 49% of evaluated openers
1.49 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How NOUPS 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.

3.65 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.67 Spread of game lengths
#3,678 Rank among openers
Opening with NOUPS left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.67 means those games clustered within about 0.67 of a guess of the 3.65 average. It ranks #3,678 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
50
3 guesses
926
4 guesses
1,187
5 guesses
177
6 guesses
11
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
2 vowels
Common:
NOSU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
75%
Green tile
22%
All gray
25%

Feedback distribution

NOUPS can come back 83 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

598 answers
218 answers
189 answers
153 answers
134 answers
109 answers
92 answers
76 answers
61 answers
53 answers
48 answers
45 answers
45 answers
42 answers
36 answers
31 answers
30 answers
27 answers
23 answers
22 answers
20 answers
20 answers
20 answers
19 answers
19 answers
15 answers
14 answers
14 answers
11 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

N1O1U1P3S1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Strategy after playing NOUPS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing NOUPS:

25% chance
Suggested:
TIARE
9% chance
Suggested:
THALE
8% chance
Suggested:
RAILE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

25.2%
TIARE 6.20 bits
9.2%
THALE 5.87 bits
8.0%
RAILE 5.34 bits
6.4%
TALER 5.17 bits
5.6%
MARLE 4.74 bits
4.6%
RAILE 4.96 bits
3.9%
PLIER 5.37 bits
3.2%
ARIEL 4.56 bits
2.6%
CARLE 4.86 bits
2.2%
STIRE 4.58 bits

Research on NOUPS

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

Optimal play

Opening with NOUPS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.71 guesses and ranks #5,650 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.82 guesses at best and is rank #2,002 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.65, 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.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it NOOPS. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model.