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

NUNKS

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 80.0% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check NUNKS 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 NUNKS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts NUNKS 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 59.6% of games, misses completely in 40.4%, and leaves about 475 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #13,509 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.87 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 NUNKS 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.

3.38 Entropy (bits)
475 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
80.0% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 5% of evaluated openers
2.57 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How NUNKS 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.

3.87 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#13,509 Rank among openers
Opening with NUNKS left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.87 average. It ranks #13,509 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
26
3 guesses
653
4 guesses
1,303
5 guesses
343
6 guesses
27
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

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
NSU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
60%
Green tile
18%
All gray
40%

Feedback distribution

NUNKS can come back 50 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

958 answers
339 answers
202 answers
124 answers
111 answers
86 answers
62 answers
56 answers
53 answers
48 answers
35 answers
33 answers
32 answers
26 answers
25 answers
25 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
12 answers
9 answers
9 answers
7 answers
6 answers
6 answers
6 answers
5 answers
5 answers
5 answers
4 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

N1U1N1K5S1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing NUNKS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing NUNKS:

40% chance
Suggested:
ROATE
14% chance
Suggested:
STALE
9% chance
Suggested:
ARIEL

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

40.4%
ROATE 6.11 bits
14.3%
STALE 5.74 bits
8.5%
ARIEL 5.53 bits
5.2%
TRODE 5.35 bits
4.7%
DROLE 4.37 bits
3.6%
COATE 4.73 bits
2.6%
TIARE 4.62 bits
2.4%
SHART 4.30 bits
2.2%
CARLE 4.70 bits
2.0%
TRIDE 4.26 bits

Research on NUNKS

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

Optimal play

Opening with NUNKS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.89 guesses and ranks #13,628 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 4.03 guesses at best and is rank #6,611 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.87, at or below the proven-optimal 3.89, 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 NUHNGKS. 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.