ROUND
Yes, ROUND was the Wordle answer on September 17, 2021 (Wordle #90).
As an opener, it rules out about 92.4% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈɹaʊ̯nd//ɹʊnd//ɹuːnd/
- Adjective
-
Of shape:
“We sat at a round table to make conversation easier.”
- Adjective
-
Complete, whole, not lacking.
“The baker sold us a round dozen.”
- Noun
-
A circular or spherical object or part of an object.
- Noun
-
A circular or repetitious route.
“The prison guards have started their nightly rounds.”
Alternative forms: around, ron
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
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: September 17, 2021 (#90).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 17, 2021 (#90).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How ROUND performs as a guess
ROUND 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 79.2% of games, misses completely in 20.8%, and leaves about 180 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,485 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe ROUND 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.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How ROUND 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.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches ROUND in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
ROUND can come back 113 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for ROUND; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing ROUND
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to ROUND.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing ROUND:
Research on ROUND
Game-tree analysis and word research for ROUND, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with ROUND, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.65 guesses and ranks #1,637 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 ROUND can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.61, at or below the proven-optimal 3.65, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, ROUND is a kind of ammunition or interval.
Synonyms around turn attack beat CYCLE circle
Opposites square EXACT thin
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- ROUND sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 138 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in beginner learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level A2); among the first words English learners study.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.6 of 5).
In a sentence
This round is on me.
Some of them are round.
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; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).