RUDDY
Yes, RUDDY was the Wordle answer on February 21, 2023 (Wordle #612).
As an opener, it rules out about 83.3% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈɹʌdi/
- Adjective
-
Reddish in color, especially of the face, fire, or sky.
- Adjective
-
Robust and vigorous, like a person with a red complexion (as compared to a pale one).
“in ruddy health”
- Adverb
-
A mild intensifier, expressing irritation.
- Noun
-
A ruddy duck.
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: February 21, 2023 (#612).
See the full page for that puzzle: February 21, 2023 (#612).
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 RUDDY performs as a guess
RUDDY 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 66.3% of games, misses completely in 33.7%, and leaves about 396 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,392 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.82 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 RUDDY 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 RUDDY 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 RUDDY in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
RUDDY can come back 67 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 RUDDY; 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 RUDDY
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to RUDDY.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing RUDDY:
Research on RUDDY
Game-tree analysis and word research for RUDDY, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with RUDDY, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.84 guesses and ranks #12,494 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 RUDDY can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.82, at or below the proven-optimal 3.84, 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 RUHDEE.
Related meanings
Synonyms red cherry ruby scarlet crimson reddish
Opposites unhealthy
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- RUDDY sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about once per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
In a sentence
My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.
The hint of stubble on his face evens out his ruddy looks.
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).