SCARF
Yes, SCARF was the Wordle answer on May 14, 2023 (Wordle #694).
As an opener, it rules out about 93.1% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /skɑːf//skɑɹf//skɐːf/
- Noun
-
A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.
- Noun
-
A headscarf.
- Verb
-
To throw on loosely; to put on like a scarf.
- Verb
-
To dress with a scarf, or as with a scarf; to cover with a loose wrapping.
“She scarfed her head.”
Alternative forms: scarve, scart, skart
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: May 14, 2023 (#694).
See the full page for that puzzle: May 14, 2023 (#694).
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 SCARF performs as a guess
SCARF 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 82.4% of games, misses completely in 17.6%, and leaves about 165 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,730 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.65 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 SCARF 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 SCARF 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 SCARF in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
SCARF can come back 87 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 SCARF; 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 SCARF
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SCARF.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SCARF:
Research on SCARF
Game-tree analysis and word research for SCARF, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SCARF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #5,165 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.82 guesses at best and is rank #1,973 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.65, at or below the proven-optimal 3.70, 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 SKAHRF.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, SCARF is a kind of garment or joint.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- SCARF 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.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 95 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
In a sentence
You can keep the scarf.
Don't you want your scarf?
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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).