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

PLONG

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 90.3% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check PLONG 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 PLONG performs as a guess

Wordle accepts PLONG 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 74.1% of games, misses completely in 25.9%, and leaves about 231 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,221 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 PLONG 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.

4.47 Entropy (bits)
231 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.3% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 50% of evaluated openers
1.48 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PLONG 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
0.67 Spread of game lengths
#3,221 Rank among openers
Opening with PLONG solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.67 means those games clustered within about 0.67 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #3,221 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
44
3 guesses
964
4 guesses
1,151
5 guesses
184
6 guesses
11
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:
LNO

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
74%
Green tile
27%
All gray
26%

Feedback distribution

PLONG can come back 84 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

616 answers
230 answers
178 answers
155 answers
97 answers
96 answers
93 answers
85 answers
66 answers
65 answers
64 answers
52 answers
37 answers
32 answers
31 answers
30 answers
28 answers
26 answers
20 answers
19 answers
19 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3L1O1N1G2
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing PLONG

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PLONG:

26% chance
Suggested:
REAST
10% chance
Suggested:
SALLE
7% chance
Suggested:
CARET

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

25.9%
REAST 6.38 bits
9.7%
SALLE 5.52 bits
7.5%
CARET 5.39 bits
6.5%
TIARE 5.30 bits
4.1%
STARE 4.85 bits
4.0%
STARE 5.62 bits
3.9%
ARGUE 5.14 bits
3.6%
SCARE 4.95 bits
2.8%
CANER 4.47 bits
2.7%
TIARE 4.80 bits

Research on PLONG

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

Optimal play

Opening with PLONG, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.68 guesses and ranks #3,561 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.77 guesses at best and is rank #719 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 3.68, 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 PLAWNG. 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.