SCUFF
SCUFF is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /skʌf//skɐf//skʊf/
- Verb
-
To scrape the feet while walking.
- Verb
-
To scrape and roughen the surface of (shoes, etc.)
- Noun
-
A mark left by scuffing or scraping.
“Someone left scuff marks in the sand.”
- Noun
-
The sound of a scuff or scrape.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Scots scuff (“to touch lightly, graze, hit”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skúfa (“to shove, push aside”), from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną (“to shove”). Or, perhaps imitative. More at shove.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it SKUHF.
Rhymes with STUFF TOUGH ROUGH BLUFF FLUFF
Related meanings
Synonyms drag mule
In a sentence
Maple syrup mixed with baby spit-up and shoe scuff?
Please don't scuff your shoes on the recently mopped floor.
Use SCUFF in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 79.3% of possible answers.
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
NoThe solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.
Past Wordle answer
No completed appearanceNo appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.
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 SCUFF performs as a guess
Wordle accepts SCUFF 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 58.7% of games, misses completely in 41.3%, and leaves about 495 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #13,355 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.86 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 SCUFF 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 SCUFF 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
Feedback distribution
SCUFF can come back 51 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 SCUFF; 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 SCUFF
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SCUFF.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SCUFF:
Research on SCUFF
Game-tree analysis and word research for SCUFF, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SCUFF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.91 guesses and ranks #14,025 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 4.04 guesses at best and is rank #6,630 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.86, at or below the proven-optimal 3.91, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- SCUFF sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than 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).