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

PELSH

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 93.0% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check PELSH 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 PELSH performs as a guess

Wordle accepts PELSH 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 82.5% of games, misses completely in 17.5%, and leaves about 166 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,350 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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 PELSH 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.

4.85 Entropy (bits)
166 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
93.0% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 75% of evaluated openers
1.10 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PELSH 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#3,350 Rank among openers
Opening with PELSH solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #3,350 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
71
3 guesses
905
4 guesses
1,186
5 guesses
178
6 guesses
14
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
1 vowels
Common:
ELS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
82%
Green tile
29%
All gray
18%

Feedback distribution

PELSH can come back 105 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

415 answers
329 answers
191 answers
128 answers
128 answers
103 answers
78 answers
65 answers
59 answers
47 answers
45 answers
41 answers
38 answers
37 answers
37 answers
33 answers
32 answers
32 answers
30 answers
29 answers
27 answers
26 answers
22 answers
21 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3E1L1S1H4
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Strategy after playing PELSH

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PELSH:

17% chance
Suggested:
TRAIN
14% chance
Suggested:
ORATE
8% chance
Suggested:
CORAL

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

17.5%
TRAIN 6.02 bits
13.9%
ORATE 5.22 bits
8.0%
CORAL 5.03 bits
5.4%
SCANT 5.18 bits
5.4%
AINEE 4.62 bits
4.3%
RAINY 4.54 bits
3.3%
STANE 4.78 bits
2.7%
CHAIR 4.78 bits
2.5%
RUOTE 4.24 bits
2.0%
TIARE 4.36 bits

Research on PELSH

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

Optimal play

Opening with PELSH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.67 guesses and ranks #2,829 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.79 guesses at best and is rank #1,020 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.67, 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 PEHLSH. 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.