SHARP
Yes, SHARP was the Wordle answer on December 8, 2023 (Wordle #902).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ʃɑːp//ʃɑɹp//ʃɐːp/
- Adjective
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Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut or pierce easily; not dull, obtuse, or rounded.
“I keep my knives sharp so that they don't slip unexpectedly while carving.”
- Adjective
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Intelligent.
“My nephew is a sharp lad; he can count to 100 in six languages, and he's only five years old.”
- Adverb
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In a sharp manner: a less usual alternative to sharply in certain senses.
- Adverb
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Exactly.
“I'll see you at twelve o'clock sharp.”
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English scharp, from Old English sċearp, from Proto-West Germanic *skarp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-, from *(s)ker- (“to cut”).
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it SHAHRP.
Rhymes with SCARP
Related meanings
Synonyms keen ACUTE sharply CRISP piercing abrupt
Opposites dull flat natural low
In a sentence
The picture is not sharp.
He has a sharp mind.
Use SHARP in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 93.2% 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
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: December 8, 2023 (#902).
See the full page for that puzzle: December 8, 2023 (#902).
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 →SHARP in Connections
6 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . Showing the 5 most recent. A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #999
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SHARP appeared in WAYS ONE MIGHT REFER TO # (blue group).
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· Puzzle #966
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SHARP appeared in MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PLUS STARTING LETTER (purple group).
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· Puzzle #956
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SHARP appeared in WELL-DEFINED, AS AN IMAGE (yellow group).
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· Puzzle #751
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SHARP appeared in DAPPER (blue group).
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· Puzzle #152
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SHARP appeared in INTELLIGENT (green group).
How SHARP performs as a guess
SHARP is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 82.2% of games, misses completely in 17.8%, and leaves about 163 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,847 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.62 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 SHARP 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 SHARP 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
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches SHARP in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
SHARP can come back 109 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 SHARP; 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 SHARP
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SHARP.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SHARP:
Research on SHARP
Game-tree analysis and word research for SHARP, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SHARP, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,092 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.77 guesses at best and is rank #719 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.62, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- SHARP sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 30 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 6, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 62 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with touch (4.5 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); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).