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

SHEND

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

As an opener, it rules out about 92.9% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ʃɛnd/

Verb

To disgrace or put to shame.

Verb

To blame.

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 SHEND performs as a guess

Wordle accepts SHEND 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 83.0% of games, misses completely in 17.0%, and leaves about 169 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,470 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.

First-turn measures

All four describe SHEND 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.

4.79 Entropy (bits)
169 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
92.9% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 71% of evaluated openers
1.16 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SHEND 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
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#3,470 Rank among openers
Opening with SHEND left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #3,470 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
61
3 guesses
924
4 guesses
1,171
5 guesses
182
6 guesses
14
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:
ENS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
32%
All gray
17%

Feedback distribution

SHEND can come back 98 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

403 answers
373 answers
118 answers
115 answers
101 answers
98 answers
95 answers
90 answers
77 answers
75 answers
71 answers
61 answers
50 answers
41 answers
38 answers
30 answers
27 answers
25 answers
25 answers
24 answers
24 answers
24 answers
21 answers
18 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers
14 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1H4E1N1D2
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Strategy after playing SHEND

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SHEND:

17% chance
Suggested:
CAROL
16% chance
Suggested:
RAILE
5% chance
Suggested:
LAIRY

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

17.0%
CAROL 6.02 bits
15.7%
RAILE 5.35 bits
5.0%
LAIRY 4.75 bits
4.8%
TALON 4.97 bits
4.3%
AINEE 4.63 bits
4.1%
ROAST 5.02 bits
4.0%
RAILE 4.75 bits
3.8%
TORCH 4.92 bits
3.2%
RADIO 4.77 bits
3.2%
LAIRY 4.28 bits

Research on SHEND

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

Optimal play

Opening with SHEND, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.68 guesses and ranks #3,310 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 SHEND can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.68, 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 SHEHND. 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.