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

ROUTE

Yes, ROUTE was the Wordle answer on January 12, 2024 (Wordle #937).

As an opener, it rules out about 96.3% of possible answers.

Open Solver with ROUTE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ɹuːt//ɹʉwt//ɹʉːt/

Noun

A course or way which is traveled or passed.

“The route was used so much that it formed a rut.”

Noun

A regular itinerary of stops, or the path followed between these stops, such as for delivery or passenger transportation.

“We live near the bus route.”

Verb

To direct or divert along a particular course.

“All incoming mail was routed through a single office.”

Verb

to connect two local area networks, thereby forming an internet.

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: January 12, 2024 (#937).

See the full page for that puzzle: January 12, 2024 (#937).

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

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How ROUTE performs as a guess

ROUTE 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 89.1% of games, misses completely in 10.9%, and leaves about 89 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,172 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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___E R in the 1st position and E in the 5th position R__T_ R in the 1st position and T in the 4th position _O__E O in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe ROUTE 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.

5.50 Entropy (bits)
89 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
96.3% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 98% of evaluated openers
0.45 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How ROUTE 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.73 Spread of game lengths
#3,172 Rank among openers
Opening with ROUTE 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 3.64 average. It ranks #3,172 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
79
3 guesses
937
4 guesses
1,104
5 guesses
211
6 guesses
20
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
3 vowels
Common:
EORTU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
89%
Green tile
40%
All gray
11%

Example solver route

R O A T E
R O U T E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches ROUTE in 2 guesses.

Feedback distribution

ROUTE can come back 118 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

259 answers
163 answers
136 answers
131 answers
111 answers
99 answers
95 answers
85 answers
84 answers
78 answers
75 answers
59 answers
46 answers
45 answers
44 answers
37 answers
33 answers
33 answers
32 answers
29 answers
27 answers
27 answers
27 answers
24 answers
21 answers
21 answers
21 answers
21 answers
21 answers
20 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

R1O1U1T1E1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 6 points

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

Try next

SLAIN PENAL ARIEL SLANE CAIRN SHALT

Strategy after playing ROUTE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing ROUTE:

11% chance
Suggested:
SLAIN
7% chance
Suggested:
PENAL
6% chance
Suggested:
ARIEL

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

10.9% →
SLAIN 5.71 bits
6.9% →
PENAL 5.19 bits
5.7% →
ARIEL 3.99 bits
5.5% →
SLANE 4.52 bits
4.7% →
CAIRN 4.65 bits
4.2% →
SHALT 5.00 bits
4.0% →
SALON 5.18 bits
3.6% →
LUMPY 4.14 bits
3.5% →
SLANT 4.90 bits
3.3% →
ARSON 4.18 bits

Research on ROUTE

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

Optimal play

Opening with ROUTE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.63 guesses and ranks #985 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 ROUTE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64; proven optimal play reaches 3.63. The fixed strategy accounts for the difference.

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 ROOT.

Rhymes with SHOOT FRUIT ACUTE FLUTE BRUTE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, ROUTE is a kind of line or way.

Synonyms road path itinerary

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
ROUTE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 47 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.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.9 of 5).

In a sentence

Can I change the route?
© tatoeba.org contributor CM (CC BY 2.0 FR)
They take the same route.
© tatoeba.org contributor Amastan (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; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).