Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier opener

NOVEL

Yes, NOVEL was the Wordle answer on July 9, 2025 (Wordle #1481).

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

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈnɒvəl/[ˈnɒvɫ̩]/ˈnɑvəl/

Adjective

Newly made, formed or evolved; having no precedent; of recent origin; new.

Adjective

Original, especially in an interesting way; new and striking; not of the typical or ordinary type.

Noun

A work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.

Noun

A fable; a short tale, especially one of many making up a larger work.

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

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

Past Wordle answer

Used once

Past Wordle answer: July 9, 2025 (#1481).

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

Wordle Observatory

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About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How NOVEL performs as a guess

NOVEL is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 83.8% of games, misses completely in 16.2%, and leaves about 159 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #5,930 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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

4.74 Entropy (bits)
159 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 68% of evaluated openers
1.21 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How NOVEL 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.

3.68 Avg guesses
99.9% Win rate
0.69 Volatility
#5,930 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, NOVEL ranks #5,930 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
68
3 guesses
831
4 guesses
1,239
5 guesses
198
6 guesses
15
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ELNO

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
84%
Green tile
29%
All gray
16%

Example solver route

R O A T E
V I N Y L
N O V E L

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches NOVEL in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

103 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

381
313
151
149
132
128
124
101
83
66
51
43
38
38
38
37
35
30
24
23
23
22
22
21
17
13
11
11
9
9

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing NOVEL:

16% chance
Suggested:
SHART
13% chance
Suggested:
CRATE
6% chance
Suggested:
GIANT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.2%
SHART 6.04 bits
13.3%
CRATE 5.75 bits
6.4%
GIANT 5.18 bits
6.3%
SAUCY 5.13 bits
5.6%
TROOP 4.92 bits
5.4%
STAIR 4.65 bits
5.3%
TEASE 4.82 bits
4.3%
SHART 4.59 bits
3.5%
SEINE 4.79 bits
2.8%
GROAN 4.42 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

N1O1V4E1L1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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