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

PHIES

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 93.2% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check PHIES 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 PHIES performs as a guess

Wordle accepts PHIES 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 82.6% of games, misses completely in 17.4%, and leaves about 161 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,979 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 PHIES 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.

4.89 Entropy (bits)
161 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
93.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 77% of evaluated openers
1.06 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PHIES 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
100% Solved within six
0.71 Spread of game lengths
#4,979 Rank among openers
Opening with PHIES solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.71 means those games clustered within about 0.71 of a guess of the 3.67 average. It ranks #4,979 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
67
3 guesses
894
4 guesses
1,161
5 guesses
214
6 guesses
18
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
2 vowels
Common:
EIS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
35%
All gray
17%

Feedback distribution

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

413 answers
310 answers
167 answers
155 answers
141 answers
99 answers
79 answers
78 answers
53 answers
49 answers
39 answers
36 answers
36 answers
34 answers
34 answers
33 answers
31 answers
29 answers
28 answers
27 answers
25 answers
24 answers
23 answers
21 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
15 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3H4I1E1S1
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Strategy after playing PHIES

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PHIES:

17% chance
Suggested:
TALON
13% chance
Suggested:
LEARE
7% chance
Suggested:
OATER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

17.4%
TALON 5.79 bits
13.1%
LEARE 5.50 bits
7.0%
OATER 4.33 bits
6.5%
TRAIL 5.04 bits
5.9%
SAULT 5.26 bits
4.2%
SLART 5.02 bits
3.3%
CLARY 4.48 bits
3.3%
MOUTH 4.74 bits
2.2%
TILDE 4.14 bits
2.1%
TARGE 3.92 bits

Research on PHIES

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

Optimal play

Opening with PHIES, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.67 guesses and ranks #2,997 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 PHIES can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.67, 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 FYZ. 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.