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

SABLE

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

As an opener, it rules out about 95.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with SABLE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈseɪbəl//ˈseɪbɫ/

Noun

A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Martes zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur.

Noun

Any other marten, especially Martes americana (syn. Mustela americana).

Adjective

Sable-coloured, black.

Adjective

In blazon, of the colour black.

Alternative forms: sa., s.

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 SABLE performs as a guess

Wordle accepts SABLE 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 87.0% of games, misses completely in 13.0%, and leaves about 105 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,556 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.

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.

S___E S in the 1st position and E in the 5th position S__L_ S in the 1st position and L in the 4th position _A__E A in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe SABLE 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.

5.41 Entropy (bits)
105 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
95.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 97% of evaluated openers
0.54 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SABLE 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.

3.61 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#1,556 Rank among openers
Opening with SABLE left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.61 average. It ranks #1,556 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
90
3 guesses
927
4 guesses
1,159
5 guesses
162
6 guesses
15
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
2 vowels
Common:
AELS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
87%
Green tile
46%
All gray
13%

Feedback distribution

SABLE can come back 121 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

309 answers
225 answers
127 answers
123 answers
113 answers
100 answers
83 answers
81 answers
67 answers
63 answers
60 answers
52 answers
45 answers
42 answers
41 answers
39 answers
39 answers
39 answers
37 answers
34 answers
30 answers
24 answers
21 answers
21 answers
20 answers
19 answers
19 answers
18 answers
16 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1A1B3L1E1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Try next

COUNT TENOR TRAIN GRICE CARAT SNOUT

Strategy after playing SABLE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SABLE:

13% chance
Suggested:
COUNT
9% chance
Suggested:
TENOR
5% chance
Suggested:
TRAIN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

13.0% →
COUNT 5.82 bits
9.5% →
TENOR 5.23 bits
5.3% →
TRAIN 5.32 bits
5.2% →
GRICE 4.42 bits
4.8% →
CARAT 4.08 bits
4.2% →
SNOUT 4.51 bits
3.5% →
LOGIC 4.60 bits
3.4% →
CORAL 4.31 bits
2.8% →
REVEL 4.25 bits
2.7% →
MOIST 4.84 bits

Research on SABLE

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

Optimal play

Opening with SABLE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.62 guesses and ranks #535 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 SABLE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.61, at or below the proven-optimal 3.62, 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 SAYBUHL.

Rhymes with TABLE CABLE LABEL FABLE GABLE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SABLE is a kind of brush or fur.

Synonyms EBONY neutral

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
SABLE sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about once per million words of written English; the band marks it as an uncommon word many players still recognize.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.1 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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).