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

PODEX

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

As an opener, it rules out about 89.0% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

The anus, rectum, or buttocks of a human.

Noun

The rear end of any animal.

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

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 PODEX performs as a guess

Wordle accepts PODEX 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 76.2% of games, misses completely in 23.8%, and leaves about 261 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,680 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.78 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 PODEX 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.

4.09 Entropy (bits)
261 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
89.0% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 27% of evaluated openers
1.85 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PODEX 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.

3.78 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#10,680 Rank among openers
Opening with PODEX solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.78 average. It ranks #10,680 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
51
3 guesses
728
4 guesses
1,289
5 guesses
269
6 guesses
17
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:
EO

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
30%
All gray
24%

Feedback distribution

PODEX can come back 74 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

565 answers
415 answers
202 answers
169 answers
136 answers
85 answers
80 answers
78 answers
72 answers
50 answers
44 answers
42 answers
35 answers
34 answers
30 answers
29 answers
27 answers
25 answers
23 answers
20 answers
19 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
10 answers
7 answers
7 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3O1D2E1X8
Total: 15 points

Words With Friends

Total: 16 points

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

Strategy after playing PODEX

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PODEX:

24% chance
Suggested:
SAINT
17% chance
Suggested:
SLART
9% chance
Suggested:
ARSON

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

23.8%
SAINT 6.11 bits
17.5%
SLART 5.80 bits
8.5%
ARSON 5.24 bits
7.1%
STAIR 4.72 bits
5.7%
SALTY 4.47 bits
3.6%
DRAIN 5.08 bits
3.4%
SLART 5.32 bits
3.3%
LEARE 4.73 bits
3.0%
SNARE 4.26 bits
2.1%
SAUNT 4.44 bits

Research on PODEX

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

Optimal play

Opening with PODEX, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.76 guesses and ranks #8,839 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 PODEX can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.78; proven optimal play reaches 3.76. The fixed strategy accounts for the difference.

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 POHTIHKS. 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.