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

SHAKE

Yes, SHAKE was the Wordle answer on February 17, 2022 (Wordle #243).

As an opener, it rules out about 93.8% of possible answers.

Open Solver with SHAKE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈʃeɪk/

Verb

To cause (something) to move rapidly in opposite directions alternatingly.

“The earthquake shook the building.”

Verb

To move (one's head) from side to side, especially to indicate refusal, reluctance, or disapproval.

“Shaking his head, he kept repeating “No, no, no”.”

Noun

The act of shaking or being shaken; tremulous or back-and-forth motion.

“The cat gave the mouse a shake.”

Noun

A twitch, a spasm, a tremor.

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: February 17, 2022 (#243).

See the full page for that puzzle: February 17, 2022 (#243).

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

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How SHAKE performs as a guess

SHAKE 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 85.5% of games, misses completely in 14.5%, and leaves about 148 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,342 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.71 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__K_ S in the 1st position and K 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 SHAKE.

First-turn measures

All four describe SHAKE 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.

4.96 Entropy (bits)
148 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.8% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 81% of evaluated openers
0.99 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SHAKE 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.

3.71 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#7,342 Rank among openers
Opening with SHAKE left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.71 average. It ranks #7,342 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
73
3 guesses
802
4 guesses
1,231
5 guesses
227
6 guesses
19
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)
86%
Green tile
41%
All gray
14%

Example solver route

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

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SHAKE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

SHAKE can come back 107 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

344 answers
289 answers
259 answers
153 answers
115 answers
89 answers
85 answers
67 answers
62 answers
52 answers
43 answers
40 answers
40 answers
34 answers
33 answers
32 answers
32 answers
31 answers
31 answers
29 answers
29 answers
27 answers
23 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1H4A1K5E1
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Try next

DROIT TENOR TALON GOIER ALTER TOUCH

Strategy after playing SHAKE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SHAKE:

14% chance
Suggested:
DROIT
12% chance
Suggested:
TENOR
11% chance
Suggested:
TALON

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

14.5% →
DROIT 5.67 bits
12.2% →
TENOR 5.06 bits
10.9% →
TALON 5.30 bits
6.4% →
GOIER 4.39 bits
4.8% →
ALTER 4.67 bits
3.7% →
TOUCH 4.74 bits
3.6% →
SNOUT 4.44 bits
2.8% →
TRAIN 4.32 bits
2.6% →
MOIST 4.87 bits
2.2% →
ANGLE 3.89 bits

Research on SHAKE

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

Optimal play

Opening with SHAKE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #4,970 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 SHAKE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.71; proven optimal play reaches 3.70. The fixed strategy accounts for the difference.

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 SHAYK.

Rhymes with BREAK SNAKE STAKE AWAKE STEAK

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SHAKE is a kind of artifact or drink.

Synonyms rock stir stimulate sway handshake excite

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
SHAKE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 21 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 A1); among the first words English learners study.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 4, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 83 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.

In a sentence

Don't shake it too much.
© tatoeba.org contributor Rafik (CC BY 2.0 FR)
That would shake things up.
© tatoeba.org contributor CM (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).