Very unlikely Accepted guess B tier for first-turn info

PERLE

PERLE is an accepted guess. Its modelled answer likelihood is very unlikely; no globally completed appearance is recorded here.

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

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check PERLE on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it PURL.

Rhymes with PEARL SWIRL MERLE WHIRL TWIRL

Use PERLE in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 93.1% of possible answers.

Wordle status

Answer chance: very unlikely. Roughly 0.05% within a year (about 1 in 2,113), under the model through 2026-11-05. This is an estimate, not a publisher forecast. How this is calculated.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Earlier benchmark pool

No

Membership in the preserved uniform benchmark; it is not a future eligibility rule.

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 PERLE performs as a guess

Wordle accepts PERLE as a guess. It is outside this preserved uniform benchmark’s answer pool; that is not a claim about future eligibility.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 80.4% of games, misses completely in 19.6%, and leaves about 165 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,304 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 PERLE 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.

4.91 Entropy (bits)
165 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
93.1% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PERLE 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
99.92% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#3,304 Rank among openers
Opening with PERLE 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 3.64 average. It ranks #3,304 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
64
3 guesses
944
4 guesses
1,129
5 guesses
200
6 guesses
15

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ELR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
80%
Green tile
40%
All gray
20%

When PERLE is useful later

No standout example in the positions tested. All 108 sampled states were checked; PERLE was legal in 55.

Sample and method

Every saved board is reachable within a six-turn game. Remaining turns equal six minus the saved history length. The sampling policy is independent of the expected-survivor metric. Two states at each of three depths per opener were selected by a fixed hash from an independent candidate-only sampling policy. Every accepted guess was evaluated. Model answer-model-2026-11-05-9183a914c959, data through 2026-11-05. The score measures expected survivors, not proved solve length or human difficulty.

How this is calculated.

How the solver finds PERLE

The strategy receives only earlier guesses and their feedback. It does not know the answer before choosing a move. Guessing the answer itself on turn one is a lucky one-turn result, not a recommended general strategy.

Normal mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 65 after. This feedback leaves 65 candidates.

    All 65 surviving candidates

    BERME, BIRLE, BIRZE, BORDE, BOREE, BORNE, BURKE, CERGE, CERNE, CORBE, CURIE, CURVE, DIRGE, DIRKE, DOREE, DORJE, EERIE, EYRIE, FIRIE, FORCE, FORGE, FORME, FORZE, FURZE, GERBE, GERLE, GERNE, GORGE, GURGE, HERYE, HIREE, HORDE, HORME, JIRRE, KERNE, KERVE, KURRE, KYRIE, LURVE, MERDE, MERGE, MERLE, MOREE, MORNE, MURRE, NERVE, NORIE, OORIE, OURIE, OWRIE, PERCE, PERLE, PERNE, PERVE, PIRRE, PORGE, PUREE, PURGE, PURRE, RORIE, VERDE, VERGE, VERRE, VERVE, VIRGE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test GOLES against the 65 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    65 before → 4 after. This feedback leaves 4 candidates.

    All 4 surviving candidates

    BIRLE, LURVE, MERLE, PERLE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 2.849. Information: 1.18 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test MERLE against the 4 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    4 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    PERLE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 2.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    PERLE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 4 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 3.

Continue this board in the Solver

Hard Mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 65 after. This feedback leaves 65 candidates.

    All 65 surviving candidates

    BERME, BIRLE, BIRZE, BORDE, BOREE, BORNE, BURKE, CERGE, CERNE, CORBE, CURIE, CURVE, DIRGE, DIRKE, DOREE, DORJE, EERIE, EYRIE, FIRIE, FORCE, FORGE, FORME, FORZE, FURZE, GERBE, GERLE, GERNE, GORGE, GURGE, HERYE, HIREE, HORDE, HORME, JIRRE, KERNE, KERVE, KURRE, KYRIE, LURVE, MERDE, MERGE, MERLE, MOREE, MORNE, MURRE, NERVE, NORIE, OORIE, OURIE, OWRIE, PERCE, PERLE, PERNE, PERVE, PIRRE, PORGE, PUREE, PURGE, PURRE, RORIE, VERDE, VERGE, VERRE, VERVE, VIRGE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test MOREE against the 65 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    65 before → 19 after. This feedback leaves 19 candidates.

    All 19 surviving candidates

    CERGE, CERNE, EERIE, EYRIE, GERBE, GERLE, GERNE, HERYE, KERNE, KERVE, NERVE, PERCE, PERLE, PERNE, PERVE, VERDE, VERGE, VERRE, VERVE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 5.004. Information: 1.106 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test VERGE against the 19 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    19 before → 7 after. This feedback leaves 7 candidates.

    All 7 surviving candidates

    CERNE, EERIE, HERYE, KERNE, PERCE, PERLE, PERNE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 3.882. Information: 2.462 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Test PERNE against the 7 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    7 before → 2 after. This feedback leaves 2 candidates.

    All 2 surviving candidates

    PERCE, PERLE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.904. Information: 1.728 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  5. Test PERCE against the 2 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    2 before → 1 after. This feedback leaves 1 candidate.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    PERLE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 1.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  6. Submit the only remaining candidate.

    1 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    PERLE

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 0.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 6 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 5.

Continue this board in the Solver

How the fixed opener panel performs on this answer

OpenerFirst feedbackSurvivorsNormalHard Mode
TARSE00202 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)6546
CRANE01002 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)17355
SLATE01002 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)13955
ADIEU00010 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)128266
STARE00012 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)18344
AUDIO00000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)125166
RAISE10002 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)15144
ROATE10002 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)14944
SALET00110 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)23944
Normal mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 0 · 3 guesses: 0 · 4 guesses: 5 · 5 guesses: 2 · 6 guesses: 2 · Failed in six: 0
Hard Mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 0 · 3 guesses: 0 · 4 guesses: 4 · 5 guesses: 2 · 6 guesses: 3 · Failed in six: 0

The nine openers use the same pool and continuation policy. Across both modes: 4–6 guesses among successes; 0 of 18 configurations failed. This is performance on this answer, not an overall opener ranking.

26 openers set up a two-turn opportunity; examples include SLEEP, REPLY, PEARL, PERIL, REPEL, BLEEP, MERLE, PEELS, LEPER, ELOPE. After their feedback, this answer is among the most likely survivors with at least half the model probability. This is an opportunity, not a guarantee. An opener that immediately solves is excluded.

Why this answer can be difficult

The answer contains 2 copies of E. Feedback allocates exact matches before misplaced copies; a grey duplicate does not erase another coloured copy.

The worked board still allows 4 different answers at one later decision: BIRLE, LURVE, MERLE, PERLE. These are mechanical alternatives, not a judgement of vocabulary difficulty.

With TARSE, this policy takes 4 guesses in normal mode and 6 in Hard Mode. These are matched simulations, not reported player averages.

Vocabulary evidence and voluntary player results are reported separately from these solver observations.

Closest competing answers in this board

These words all fit the earlier feedback, rather than merely sharing similar spelling: BIRLE, LURVE, MERLE, PERLE.

A lesson from this route

Before MERLE, 4 words still fit. Its feedback left 1; check the full survivor list before choosing the next answer.

Try another opener or a different move

How this is calculated

The current policy checks all remaining candidates and up to 128 fixed probes. At six or fewer candidates it uses bounded lookahead, preferring modelled six-turn success, then speed among successes. Larger states use expected survivors as a heuristic. These are recommendations, not proofs of optimal play. Hard Mode retains green positions and revealed letter counts; it allows grey letters and a yellow in the same position. Candidate-only play is stricter.

Methods and limitations

Feedback distribution

PERLE can come back 102 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

468 answers
239 answers
188 answers
137 answers
124 answers
98 answers
78 answers
69 answers
68 answers
59 answers
54 answers
53 answers
44 answers
41 answers
35 answers
34 answers
28 answers
25 answers
25 answers
24 answers
22 answers
20 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3E1R1L1E1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Strategy after playing PERLE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PERLE:

20% chance
Suggested:
SAINT
10% chance
Suggested:
TRAIN
8% chance
Suggested:
COAST

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

19.6% →
SAINT 6.15 bits
10.0% →
TRAIN 5.32 bits
7.9% →
COAST 5.19 bits
5.7% →
SAINT 5.24 bits
5.2% →
SAINT 4.31 bits
4.1% →
ONSET 4.98 bits
3.3% →
IDYLL 3.95 bits
2.9% →
COAST 4.79 bits
2.8% →
COAST 4.41 bits
2.5% →
SAINT 4.73 bits

Research on PERLE

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

Optimal play

Opening with PERLE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.67 guesses and ranks #2,972 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.83 guesses at best and is rank #2,206 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.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
PERLE sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words in the source corpus. Corpus frequency does not measure every reader’s familiarity.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0).