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

RIFER

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

As an opener, it rules out about 90.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with RIFER Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Adjective

comparative form of rife: more rife

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 RIFER performs as a guess

Wordle accepts RIFER 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 78.7% of games, misses completely in 21.3%, and leaves about 222 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,977 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

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

R___R R in the 1st position and R in the 5th position R__E_ R in the 1st position and E in the 4th position _I__R I in the 2nd position and R in the 5th position RI_ER R in the 1st position, I in the 2nd position, E in the 4th position, and R in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe RIFER 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.

4.32 Entropy (bits)
222 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 40% of evaluated openers
1.63 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How RIFER 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
99.92% Solved within six
0.73 Spread of game lengths
#10,977 Rank among openers
Opening with RIFER left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.73 means those games clustered within about 0.73 of a guess of the 3.78 average. It ranks #10,977 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
53
3 guesses
754
4 guesses
1,212
5 guesses
316
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

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
EIR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
79%
Green tile
27%
All gray
21%

Feedback distribution

RIFER can come back 88 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

505 answers
353 answers
208 answers
188 answers
143 answers
109 answers
94 answers
89 answers
85 answers
62 answers
47 answers
29 answers
27 answers
26 answers
26 answers
25 answers
23 answers
23 answers
22 answers
19 answers
16 answers
13 answers
12 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
9 answers
9 answers
9 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

R1I1F4E1R1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

SAULT SLATE COAST SLANT SALTY PRINT

Strategy after playing RIFER

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing RIFER:

21% chance
Suggested:
SAULT
15% chance
Suggested:
SLATE
9% chance
Suggested:
COAST

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

21.3% →
SAULT 5.88 bits
14.9% →
SLATE 5.73 bits
8.8% →
COAST 5.50 bits
7.9% →
SLANT 5.56 bits
6.0% →
COAST 4.78 bits
4.6% →
SLANT 4.62 bits
4.0% →
SALTY 4.23 bits
3.7% →
SLANT 4.51 bits
3.6% →
COAST 3.61 bits
2.6% →
PRINT 4.12 bits

Research on RIFER

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

Optimal play

Opening with RIFER, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.79 guesses and ranks #9,994 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 RIFER can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.78, at or below the proven-optimal 3.79, 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 RYFUR. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Related meanings

Synonyms dominant prevalent prevailing predominant frequent abundant

Opposites scarce

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model; Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0).