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

ONCUS

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

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

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check ONCUS on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Use ONCUS in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 90.9% 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 ONCUS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts ONCUS 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 77.1% of games, misses completely in 22.9%, and leaves about 217 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,294 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.67 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 ONCUS 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.

4.41 Entropy (bits)
217 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.9% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How ONCUS 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.

3.67 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#5,294 Rank among openers
Opening with ONCUS left 3 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 3.67 average. It ranks #5,294 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
51
3 guesses
881
4 guesses
1,218
5 guesses
184
6 guesses
17

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
NOSU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
77%
Green tile
12%
All gray
23%

Feedback distribution

ONCUS can come back 85 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

546 answers
252 answers
242 answers
164 answers
144 answers
125 answers
87 answers
84 answers
63 answers
51 answers
46 answers
36 answers
36 answers
36 answers
34 answers
30 answers
30 answers
23 answers
22 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

O1N1C3U1S1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Strategy after playing ONCUS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ONCUS:

23% chance
Suggested:
RAILE
11% chance
Suggested:
STALE
10% chance
Suggested:
TALER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

22.9% →
RAILE 6.18 bits
10.6% →
STALE 5.78 bits
10.2% →
TALER 5.29 bits
6.9% →
RAILE 5.25 bits
6.0% →
CRATE 5.59 bits
5.2% →
PARLE 5.02 bits
3.6% →
ARIEL 4.48 bits
3.5% →
PORTE 4.68 bits
2.6% →
SLART 4.34 bits
2.1% →
CARLE 4.55 bits

Research on ONCUS

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

Optimal play

Opening with ONCUS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.73 guesses and ranks #7,054 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.84 guesses at best and is rank #2,502 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.67, at or below the proven-optimal 3.73, 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).