Possible answer Not used yet C tier for first-turn info

PIVOT

PIVOT is on the solver's possible-answer list but has not appeared as a Wordle answer yet.

As an opener, it rules out about 90.2% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈpɪv.ɪt//ˈpɪv.ət/

Noun

A thing on which something turns; specifically a metal pointed pin or short shaft in machinery, such as the end of an axle or spindle.

Noun

Something or someone having a paramount significance in a certain situation.

Verb

To turn on an exact spot.

Verb

To make a sudden or swift change in strategy, policy, etc.

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

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

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 PIVOT performs as a guess

PIVOT 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 75.4% of games, misses completely in 24.6%, and leaves about 233 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,143 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.69 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 PIVOT 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.

4.38 Entropy (bits)
233 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
90.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 44% of evaluated openers
1.56 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PIVOT 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.

3.69 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.71 Spread of game lengths
#6,143 Rank among openers
Opening with PIVOT left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.71 means those games clustered within about 0.71 of a guess of the 3.69 average. It ranks #6,143 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
52
3 guesses
894
4 guesses
1,154
5 guesses
235
6 guesses
16
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:
IOT

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
75%
Green tile
30%
All gray
25%

Example solver route

R O A T E
P U N C H
P I L O T
P I V O T

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches PIVOT in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

PIVOT can come back 90 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

585 answers
281 answers
218 answers
178 answers
100 answers
87 answers
84 answers
76 answers
68 answers
60 answers
59 answers
43 answers
37 answers
35 answers
34 answers
27 answers
27 answers
22 answers
19 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
11 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3I1V4O1T1
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing PIVOT

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PIVOT:

25% chance
Suggested:
CARLE
12% chance
Suggested:
DROLE
9% chance
Suggested:
SLANE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.6%
CARLE 6.13 bits
11.8%
DROLE 5.13 bits
9.2%
SLANE 5.43 bits
7.5%
TARTE 5.65 bits
4.2%
SERAL 5.21 bits
3.7%
SANED 4.67 bits
3.5%
SAYER 5.25 bits
3.2%
NORTH 4.38 bits
2.9%
BALER 4.83 bits
2.5%
SLANE 5.18 bits

Research on PIVOT

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

Optimal play

Opening with PIVOT, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.73 guesses and ranks #7,054 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.86 guesses at best and is rank #3,137 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.69, at or below the proven-optimal 3.73, 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

Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it PIHVUHT.

Rhymes with RIVET CIVET

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, PIVOT is a kind of walker or axis.

Synonyms pin

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
PIVOT sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 3 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (2.8 of 5).

In a sentence

Whatever you do, do not fire the pivot-gun!
© tatoeba.org contributor Missy_Hissy (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Two big pivot guns throw eleven inch shells.
© tatoeba.org contributor remline (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).