Possible answer Not used yet C tier for first-turn info

SCREW

SCREW is on the solver's possible-answer list but has not appeared as a Wordle answer yet.

As an opener, it rules out about 93.5% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈskɹuː//ˈskɹʉw//ˈskɹu/

Noun

A device that has a helical function.

Noun

The motion of screwing something; a turn or twist to one side.

Verb

To connect or assemble pieces using a screw.

Verb

To have sexual intercourse with.

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

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

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 SCREW performs as a guess

SCREW 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 83.2% of games, misses completely in 16.8%, and leaves about 154 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,915 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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 SCREW 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.

4.79 Entropy (bits)
154 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.5% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 71% of evaluated openers
1.15 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SCREW 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.

3.68 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#5,915 Rank among openers
Opening with SCREW left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.68 average. It ranks #5,915 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
61
3 guesses
853
4 guesses
1,216
5 guesses
209
6 guesses
13
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:
ERS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
34%
All gray
17%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S I L E D
P E R C H
S C R E W

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SCREW in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

SCREW can come back 91 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

400 answers
260 answers
181 answers
146 answers
130 answers
117 answers
116 answers
84 answers
78 answers
71 answers
63 answers
57 answers
48 answers
42 answers
33 answers
32 answers
32 answers
29 answers
24 answers
24 answers
20 answers
18 answers
18 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1C3R1E1W4
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Strategy after playing SCREW

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SCREW:

17% chance
Suggested:
TALON
11% chance
Suggested:
LIANE
8% chance
Suggested:
DROIT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.8%
TALON 5.81 bits
11.0%
LIANE 5.38 bits
7.6%
DROIT 5.30 bits
6.1%
CHAIN 5.15 bits
5.5%
SAULT 4.64 bits
4.9%
TRADE 4.64 bits
4.9%
TOILE 3.45 bits
3.5%
SAIST 4.65 bits
3.3%
LEANT 4.39 bits
3.0%
PLATE 4.62 bits

Research on SCREW

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

Optimal play

Opening with SCREW, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #4,995 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 3.68, 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 SKROO.

Rhymes with DEBUT THREW QUEUE RENEW CANOE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SCREW is a kind of keeper or machine.

Synonyms know love fuck fucking bed ass

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
SCREW sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 18 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
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 9, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 79 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.8 of 5).

In a sentence

Where is the other screw?
© tatoeba.org contributor Eccles17 (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Don't screw around with me.
© tatoeba.org contributor DJ_Saidez (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).