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

PRIZE

Yes, PRIZE was the Wordle answer on August 31, 2022 (Wordle #438).

As an opener, it rules out about 92.5% of possible answers.

Open Solver with PRIZE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹaɪ̯z//ˈpɹɑ̟ɪ̯z//ˈpɹɒ̈ɪ̯z/

Noun

That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.

Noun

Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.

Verb

To consider highly valuable; to esteem.

Verb

To move with a lever; to force up or open; to prise or pry.

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: August 31, 2022 (#438).

See the full page for that puzzle: August 31, 2022 (#438).

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

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How PRIZE performs as a guess

PRIZE 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 80.7% of games, misses completely in 19.3%, and leaves about 178 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,268 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.71 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___E P in the 1st position and E in the 5th position P__Z_ P in the 1st position and Z in the 4th position _R__E R in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe PRIZE 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.

4.60 Entropy (bits)
178 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
92.5% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 59% of evaluated openers
1.35 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How PRIZE 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.

3.71 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#7,268 Rank among openers
Opening with PRIZE left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.71 average. It ranks #7,268 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
48
3 guesses
857
4 guesses
1,202
5 guesses
223
6 guesses
22
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:
EIR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
81%
Green tile
38%
All gray
19%

Example solver route

R O A T E
P R I S M
A C R I D
P R I Z E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches PRIZE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

PRIZE can come back 86 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

457 answers
236 answers
175 answers
174 answers
173 answers
163 answers
100 answers
90 answers
54 answers
53 answers
44 answers
42 answers
39 answers
37 answers
37 answers
35 answers
32 answers
30 answers
29 answers
23 answers
19 answers
18 answers
18 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3R1I1Z10E1
Total: 16 points

Words With Friends

Total: 17 points

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

Try next

SAULT LEANT COAST OATER SATIN SLANT

Strategy after playing PRIZE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PRIZE:

19% chance
Suggested:
SAULT
10% chance
Suggested:
LEANT
7% chance
Suggested:
SAULT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

19.3% →
SAULT 5.93 bits
9.9% →
LEANT 5.26 bits
7.4% →
SAULT 5.42 bits
7.3% →
COAST 5.26 bits
7.3% →
OATER 4.28 bits
6.9% →
SATIN 5.01 bits
4.2% →
SLANT 5.12 bits
3.8% →
SLANT 4.40 bits
2.3% →
SLANT 4.63 bits
2.2% →
ROAST 4.16 bits

Research on PRIZE

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

Optimal play

Opening with PRIZE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.74 guesses and ranks #7,738 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 PRIZE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.71, at or below the proven-optimal 3.74, 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 PRYZ.

Rhymes with TRIES FLIES ARISE CRIES SKIES

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, PRIZE is a kind of gift or possession.

Synonyms VALUE quality choice respect AWARD PRIME

Opposites inferior

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
PRIZE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 39 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 B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 67 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.2 of 5).

In a sentence

Do I get a prize?
© tatoeba.org contributor CK (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Did you get a prize?
© 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).