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

SCRAB

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

As an opener, it rules out about 93.4% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /skɹæb/

Verb

To scrape or scratch.

Noun

A crabapple.

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 SCRAB performs as a guess

Wordle accepts SCRAB 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 83.3% of games, misses completely in 16.7%, and leaves about 157 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,108 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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.

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

First-turn measures

All four describe SCRAB 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.

4.73 Entropy (bits)
157 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
93.4% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 67% of evaluated openers
1.21 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SCRAB 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#3,108 Rank among openers
Opening with SCRAB left 2 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 3.64 average. It ranks #3,108 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
50
3 guesses
952
4 guesses
1,159
5 guesses
179
6 guesses
12
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
1 vowels
Common:
ARS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
28%
All gray
17%

Feedback distribution

SCRAB can come back 87 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

397 answers
241 answers
237 answers
156 answers
134 answers
128 answers
81 answers
79 answers
69 answers
65 answers
55 answers
53 answers
50 answers
50 answers
39 answers
34 answers
34 answers
32 answers
28 answers
25 answers
24 answers
23 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers
13 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1C3R1A1B3
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Strategy after playing SCRAB

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SCRAB:

17% chance
Suggested:
TOILE
10% chance
Suggested:
TOILE
10% chance
Suggested:
ALANE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.7%
TOILE 6.11 bits
10.2%
TOILE 5.18 bits
10.0%
ALANE 5.36 bits
6.6%
TOILE 5.10 bits
5.6%
CLINE 5.25 bits
5.4%
TIARE 4.52 bits
3.4%
HOISE 4.97 bits
3.3%
TOILE 5.21 bits
2.9%
LEANT 4.44 bits
2.7%
CHANT 4.52 bits

Research on SCRAB

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

Optimal play

Opening with SCRAB, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.69 guesses and ranks #4,209 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.80 guesses at best and is rank #1,372 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.69, 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 SKRAB. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model.