Accepted guess Not a possible answer F tier for first-turn info

SCAGS

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

As an opener, it rules out about 87.8% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Noun

plural of scag

Verb

third-person singular simple present indicative of scag

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 SCAGS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts SCAGS 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 72.5% of games, misses completely in 27.5%, and leaves about 289 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,915 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.78 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.

First-turn measures

All four describe SCAGS 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.

3.91 Entropy (bits)
289 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
87.8% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 19% of evaluated openers
2.04 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SCAGS 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.

3.78 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#10,915 Rank among openers
Opening with SCAGS left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.78 average. It ranks #10,915 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
36
3 guesses
739
4 guesses
1,292
5 guesses
270
6 guesses
14
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

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
AS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
72%
Green tile
30%
All gray
28%

Feedback distribution

SCAGS can come back 61 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

654 answers
341 answers
213 answers
187 answers
118 answers
110 answers
104 answers
86 answers
58 answers
53 answers
52 answers
47 answers
45 answers
43 answers
24 answers
22 answers
17 answers
16 answers
15 answers
11 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
9 answers
7 answers
7 answers
7 answers
7 answers
7 answers
6 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1C3A1G2S1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Strategy after playing SCAGS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SCAGS:

28% chance
Suggested:
TOILE
14% chance
Suggested:
TALER
9% chance
Suggested:
CRINE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

27.5%
TOILE 6.01 bits
14.4%
TALER 5.57 bits
9.0%
CRINE 5.34 bits
7.9%
TRINE 5.05 bits
5.0%
DROLE 4.93 bits
4.6%
RIONE 5.42 bits
4.4%
RUOTE 5.49 bits
3.6%
CONTE 4.39 bits
2.4%
TRINE 3.80 bits
2.2%
DOREE 4.36 bits

Research on SCAGS

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

Optimal play

Opening with SCAGS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.83 guesses and ranks #12,139 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.97 guesses at best and is rank #5,712 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.78, at or below the proven-optimal 3.83, 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

One syllable Say it SKAGZ.

Rhymes with FLAGS DRAGS BRAGS SNAGS CRAGS

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SCAGS is a kind of heroin.

Synonyms thunder SMACK

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).