PHONE
Yes, PHONE was the Wordle answer on December 26, 2023 (Wordle #920).
As an opener, it rules out about 93.9% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈfəʊ̯n//ˈfoʊ̯n//ˈfɔʊ̯n/
- Noun
-
A device for transmitting conversations and other sounds in real time across distances, now often a small portable unit also capable of running software etc.
“Daragh's on the phone at the moment. He'll call you when he's finished.”
- Noun
-
A person's telephone number (as a means of contact); digits.
- Verb
-
To call (someone) using a telephone.
“Phone me as soon as you land at the airport.”
Alternative forms: 'phone
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Wordle status
A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.
Playable guess
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: December 26, 2023 (#920).
See the full page for that puzzle: December 26, 2023 (#920).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Add your result and a quick difficulty rating to help explain how this puzzle played.
See the public dataThank you. Your result now helps describe this puzzle.
See what the public sample says →How PHONE performs as a guess
PHONE is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 84.6% of games, misses completely in 15.4%, and leaves about 145 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #2,025 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.62 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe PHONE 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.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How PHONE 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.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches PHONE in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
PHONE can come back 108 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for PHONE; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing PHONE
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to PHONE.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing PHONE:
Research on PHONE
Game-tree analysis and word research for PHONE, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with PHONE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,239 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 #1,142 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.62, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, PHONE is a kind of equipment or part.
Synonyms call SOUND ring telephone headphone
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- PHONE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 200 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in beginner learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level A1); among the first words English learners study.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 95 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
In a sentence
I was on the phone.
He was on the phone.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).