5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess C tier for first-turn info

PRIOR

Yes, PRIOR was the Wordle answer on June 17, 2024 (Wordle #1094).

As an opener, it rules out about 90.8% of possible answers.

Open Solver with PRIOR Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹaɪ.ə//ˈpɹaɪ.(ə)ɹ//ˈpɹɑe.ə/

Adjective

Coming before in order or time; earlier, former, previous.

“His prior residence was smaller than his current one.”

Adjective

More important or significant.

Adverb

Chiefly followed by to: in advance, before, previously.

“The doctor had known three months prior.”

Noun

A prior probability distribution, that is, one determined without knowledge of the occurrence of other events that bear on it, before additional data is collected.

Alternative forms: priour

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

Used once

Past Wordle answer: June 17, 2024 (#1094).

See the full page for that puzzle: June 17, 2024 (#1094).

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

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How PRIOR performs as a guess

PRIOR 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 76.0% of games, misses completely in 24.0%, and leaves about 219 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,959 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

P___R P in the 1st position and R in the 5th position P__O_ P in the 1st position and O in the 4th position _R__R R in the 2nd position and R in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in PRIOR.

First-turn measures

All four describe PRIOR 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.

4.46 Entropy (bits)
219 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
90.8% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 49% of evaluated openers
1.48 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PRIOR 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.

3.68 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#5,959 Rank among openers
Opening with PRIOR left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.68 average. It ranks #5,959 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
41
3 guesses
905
4 guesses
1,167
5 guesses
225
6 guesses
12
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

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
IOR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
36%
All gray
24%

Example solver route

R O A T E
G R I N D
P R I M O
P R I O R

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches PRIOR in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

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

569 answers
264 answers
196 answers
153 answers
141 answers
101 answers
82 answers
72 answers
71 answers
52 answers
52 answers
41 answers
40 answers
40 answers
33 answers
32 answers
32 answers
22 answers
20 answers
20 answers
19 answers
19 answers
18 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3R1I1O1R1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

SLATE LEANT REAST SLANE CADET COATE

Strategy after playing PRIOR

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PRIOR:

24% chance
Suggested:
SLATE
11% chance
Suggested:
SLATE
8% chance
Suggested:
LEANT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.0% →
SLATE 6.34 bits
11.1% →
SLATE 5.15 bits
8.3% →
LEANT 5.15 bits
6.4% →
REAST 5.33 bits
5.9% →
SLANE 5.15 bits
4.3% →
CADET 4.92 bits
3.5% →
COATE 4.49 bits
3.0% →
LEAST 5.16 bits
3.0% →
SAULT 4.32 bits
2.2% →
LEANT 4.52 bits

Research on PRIOR

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

Optimal play

Opening with PRIOR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.75 guesses and ranks #8,224 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 PRIOR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.68, at or below the proven-optimal 3.75, 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 PRYUR.

Rhymes with BUYER CHOIR FLYER DRYER DRIER

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, PRIOR is a kind of superior.

Synonyms anterior

Opposites subsequent

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
PRIOR sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 71 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
Learner level
Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 11, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 25 of 100. Raters found it difficult to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (2.7 of 5).

In a sentence

No prior experience is needed.
© tatoeba.org contributor Nylez (CC BY 2.0 FR)
I have a prior engagement.
© tatoeba.org contributor CK (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); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).