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

SCUFT

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

As an opener, it rules out about 88.2% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /skʌft/

Noun

scruff; nape of the neck

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 SCUFT performs as a guess

Wordle accepts SCUFT 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 70.1% of games, misses completely in 29.9%, and leaves about 279 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,869 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.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

First-turn measures

All four describe SCUFT 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.

4.31 Entropy (bits)
279 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
88.2% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 39% of evaluated openers
1.63 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SCUFT 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.

3.65 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.66 Spread of game lengths
#3,869 Rank among openers
Opening with SCUFT solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.66 means those games clustered within about 0.66 of a guess of the 3.65 average. It ranks #3,869 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
51
3 guesses
904
4 guesses
1,225
5 guesses
163
6 guesses
11
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:
STU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
70%
Green tile
30%
All gray
30%

Feedback distribution

SCUFT can come back 90 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

709 answers
210 answers
192 answers
165 answers
112 answers
99 answers
79 answers
78 answers
64 answers
38 answers
36 answers
32 answers
30 answers
29 answers
28 answers
27 answers
26 answers
22 answers
21 answers
21 answers
20 answers
20 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
14 answers
14 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1C3U1F4T1
Total: 10 points

Words With Friends

Total: 12 points

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

Strategy after playing SCUFT

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SCUFT:

30% chance
Suggested:
ARIEL
9% chance
Suggested:
CRANE
8% chance
Suggested:
TARTE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

29.9%
ARIEL 6.15 bits
8.8%
CRANE 5.61 bits
8.1%
TARTE 5.62 bits
7.0%
PLANE 5.31 bits
4.7%
MARLE 4.86 bits
4.2%
RAILE 5.21 bits
3.3%
ARIEL 4.89 bits
3.3%
FAIRE 5.21 bits
2.7%
RAILE 4.58 bits
1.6%
GRONE 4.53 bits

Research on SCUFT

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

Optimal play

Opening with SCUFT, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.72 guesses and ranks #6,425 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

No guaranteed hard-mode solve In hard mode, no strategy that opens with SCUFT can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.65, at or below the proven-optimal 3.72, 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 SKUHFT. 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.