5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess B tier for first-turn info

SHADE

Yes, SHADE was the Wordle answer on March 21, 2024 (Wordle #1006).

As an opener, it rules out about 95.1% of possible answers.

Open Solver with SHADE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ʃeɪd/

Noun

Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is blocked.

“The old oak tree gave shade in the heat of the day.”

Noun

Something that blocks light, particularly in a window.

“Close the shade, please: it's too bright in here.”

Verb

To shield (someone or something) from light.

“The old oak tree shaded the lawn in the heat of the day.”

Verb

To alter slightly.

“You'll need to shade your shot slightly to the left.”

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

Used once

Past Wordle answer: March 21, 2024 (#1006).

See the full page for that puzzle: March 21, 2024 (#1006).

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

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How SHADE performs as a guess

SHADE 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 87.4% of games, misses completely in 12.6%, and leaves about 116 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #2,988 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

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

S___E S in the 1st position and E in the 5th position S__D_ S in the 1st position and D in the 4th position _H__E H in the 2nd position and E in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in SHADE.

First-turn measures

All four describe SHADE 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.

5.21 Entropy (bits)
116 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
95.1% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 92% of evaluated openers
0.74 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SHADE 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
0.71 Spread of game lengths
#2,988 Rank among openers
Opening with SHADE left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.71 means those games clustered within about 0.71 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #2,988 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
84
3 guesses
898
4 guesses
1,172
5 guesses
179
6 guesses
18
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
2 vowels
Common:
AES

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
87%
Green tile
42%
All gray
13%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L U M P
D R A N K
S H A D E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SHADE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

SHADE can come back 114 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

298 answers
228 answers
226 answers
125 answers
107 answers
102 answers
81 answers
76 answers
73 answers
67 answers
63 answers
47 answers
41 answers
41 answers
38 answers
36 answers
36 answers
32 answers
31 answers
30 answers
30 answers
30 answers
28 answers
27 answers
22 answers
20 answers
19 answers
19 answers
19 answers
17 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1H4A1D2E1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

COUNT TALON TENOR GOIER ALTER SPILT

Strategy after playing SHADE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SHADE:

13% chance
Suggested:
COUNT
10% chance
Suggested:
TALON
10% chance
Suggested:
TENOR

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

12.6% →
COUNT 5.65 bits
9.6% →
TALON 5.33 bits
9.5% →
TENOR 5.05 bits
5.3% →
GOIER 4.36 bits
4.5% →
ALTER 4.59 bits
4.3% →
SPILT 4.43 bits
3.4% →
TOUCH 4.66 bits
3.2% →
DINER 4.67 bits
3.1% →
ROUND 4.85 bits
2.8% →
CRINE 4.09 bits

Research on SHADE

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

Optimal play

Opening with SHADE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,363 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 SHADE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.66, 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 SHAYD.

Rhymes with TRADE GRADE BLADE EVADE SPADE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SHADE is a kind of dark or color.

Synonyms tone shadow GHOST tad spectre tint

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
SHADE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 14 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 6, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 69 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.2 of 5).

In a sentence

He is a shade better today.
© tatoeba.org contributor CM (CC BY 2.0 FR)
Park the car in the shade.
© tatoeba.org contributor CK (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).