5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess B tier opener

PROBE

Yes, PROBE was the Wordle answer on December 16, 2022 (Wordle #545).

As an opener, it rules out about 93.9% of possible answers.

Open Solver with PROBE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /pɹəʊb//pɹoʊb/

Noun

Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.

Noun

Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information.

Verb

To explore, investigate, question, test, or prove.

“If you probe further, you may discover different reasons.”

Verb

To insert a probe into.

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: December 16, 2022 (#545).

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

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How PROBE performs as a guess

PROBE is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 82.7% of games, misses completely in 17.3%, and leaves about 143 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #1,628 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.61 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.

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__B_ P in the 1st position and B in the 4th position _R__E R in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Try next

SAINT SLANT STAIR TONAL CARAT TARRE
Words starting with P Words ending with E

First-turn measures

4.99 Entropy (bits)
143 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.9% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 83% of evaluated openers
0.96 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How PROBE 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.

3.61 Avg guesses
100.0% Win rate
0.68 Volatility
#1,628 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, PROBE ranks #1,628 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
59
3 guesses
980
4 guesses
1,134
5 guesses
169
6 guesses
10
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
EOR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
37%
All gray
17%

Example solver route

R O A T E
P R O N G
A B A S E
P R O B E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches PROBE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

100 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

409
201
172
157
153
108
77
71
69
56
51
47
41
40
36
36
35
31
31
30
27
24
24
20
20
19
17
17
16
15

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing PROBE:

17% chance
Suggested:
SAINT
9% chance
Suggested:
SLANT
7% chance
Suggested:
SLANT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

17.3% →
SAINT 6.10 bits
8.5% →
SLANT 5.50 bits
7.3% →
SLANT 5.22 bits
6.7% →
STAIR 4.40 bits
6.5% →
TONAL 4.92 bits
4.6% →
CARAT 4.84 bits
3.3% →
TARRE 4.06 bits
3.0% →
SLANT 4.70 bits
2.9% →
SAINT 4.62 bits
2.4% →
SLATY 4.82 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

P3R1O1B3E1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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