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

ONTAL

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

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

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check ONTAL on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Use ONTAL in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 95.0% 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 ONTAL performs as a guess

Wordle accepts ONTAL 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 87.8% of games, misses completely in 12.2%, and leaves about 118 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #724 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.59 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 ONTAL 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.

5.10 Entropy (bits)
118 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
95.0% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How ONTAL 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.

3.59 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#724 Rank among openers
Opening with ONTAL 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 3.59 average. It ranks #724 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
74
3 guesses
1,013
4 guesses
1,079
5 guesses
172
6 guesses
14

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ALNOT

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
88%
Green tile
20%
All gray
12%

Feedback distribution

ONTAL can come back 112 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

291 answers
223 answers
185 answers
151 answers
135 answers
121 answers
101 answers
99 answers
85 answers
75 answers
64 answers
63 answers
47 answers
42 answers
41 answers
33 answers
32 answers
29 answers
28 answers
27 answers
26 answers
23 answers
23 answers
22 answers
20 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

O1N1T1A1L1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 7 points

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

Strategy after playing ONTAL

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ONTAL:

12% chance
Suggested:
SIRED
9% chance
Suggested:
SACRE
8% chance
Suggested:
ROOSE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

12.2% →
SIRED 5.88 bits
9.4% →
SACRE 5.38 bits
7.8% →
ROOSE 5.15 bits
6.3% →
SHIER 5.68 bits
5.7% →
SLICE 5.00 bits
5.1% →
CRISE 5.12 bits
4.2% →
SABLE 4.75 bits
4.2% →
CARSE 4.92 bits
3.6% →
ROOST 4.71 bits
3.1% →
SIRED 4.64 bits

Research on ONTAL

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

Optimal play

Opening with ONTAL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,110 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 ONTAL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.59, at or below the proven-optimal 3.66, 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).