RUMOR
RUMOR is on the solver's possible-answer list and has no appearance in our globally completed Wordle history.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈɹuːmə//ˈɹʉwmə//ˈɹumɚ/
- Noun
-
A statement or claim of questionable accuracy, from no known reliable source, usually spread by word of mouth.
“There's a rumor going round that he's going to get married.”
- Noun
-
Information or misinformation of the kind contained in such claims.
“They say he used to be a thief, but that's just rumor.”
- Verb
-
To tell a rumor about; to gossip.
“John is rumored to be next in line for a promotion.”
Alternative forms: rumour
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English rumour, from Old French rumeur, from Latin rūmor (“common talk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rewH- (“to shout, to roar”).
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it ROOMUR.
Related meanings
Synonyms rumour hearsay
In a sentence
This is just a rumor.
It was just a rumor.
Use RUMOR in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 87.3% of possible answers.
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
No completed appearanceNo appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.
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 RUMOR performs as a guess
RUMOR is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 69.8% of games, misses completely in 30.2%, and leaves about 303 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,511 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.75 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 RUMOR 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 RUMOR 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 RUMOR in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
RUMOR can come back 82 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 RUMOR; 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 RUMOR
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to RUMOR.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing RUMOR:
Research on RUMOR
Game-tree analysis and word research for RUMOR, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with RUMOR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.81 guesses and ranks #10,983 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 RUMOR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.75, at or below the proven-optimal 3.81, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- RUMOR sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 5 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- 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 sound (4.3 of 5).
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).