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

SHINE

Yes, SHINE was the Wordle answer on May 9, 2022 (Wordle #324).

As an opener, it rules out about 94.9% of possible answers.

Open Solver with SHINE Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ʃaɪn/

Verb

To emit or reflect light so as to glow.

Verb

To reflect light.

Noun

Brightness from a source of light.

Noun

Brightness from reflected light.

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: May 9, 2022 (#324).

See the full page for that puzzle: May 9, 2022 (#324).

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

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How verification and withdrawal work

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How SHINE performs as a guess

SHINE 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 85.7% of games, misses completely in 14.3%, and leaves about 122 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,879 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.

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__N_ S in the 1st position and N 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 SHINE.

First-turn measures

All four describe SHINE 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.

5.27 Entropy (bits)
122 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
94.9% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 94% of evaluated openers
0.67 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SHINE 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.

3.62 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.71 Spread of game lengths
#1,879 Rank among openers
Opening with SHINE 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 3.62 average. It ranks #1,879 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
87
3 guesses
938
4 guesses
1,126
5 guesses
186
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
2 vowels
Common:
EINS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
86%
Green tile
43%
All gray
14%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I N G
A L P H A
S H I N E

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SHINE in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

SHINE can come back 125 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

340 answers
276 answers
152 answers
125 answers
94 answers
76 answers
75 answers
73 answers
67 answers
62 answers
53 answers
52 answers
48 answers
39 answers
39 answers
39 answers
36 answers
36 answers
34 answers
30 answers
25 answers
25 answers
24 answers
22 answers
22 answers
22 answers
22 answers
20 answers
20 answers
18 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1H4I1N1E1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

MORAL ALTER GRATE TIDAL CLARY LATER

Strategy after playing SHINE

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SHINE:

14% chance
Suggested:
MORAL
12% chance
Suggested:
ALTER
6% chance
Suggested:
GRATE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

14.3% →
MORAL 5.81 bits
11.6% →
ALTER 5.38 bits
6.4% →
GRATE 4.52 bits
5.3% →
TIDAL 5.03 bits
4.0% →
CLARY 4.85 bits
3.2% →
LATER 4.43 bits
3.2% →
TOUCH 4.76 bits
3.1% →
CANON 4.77 bits
2.8% →
ROAST 4.73 bits
2.6% →
GRAND 4.20 bits

Research on SHINE

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

Optimal play

Opening with SHINE, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.65 guesses and ranks #1,695 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 SHINE can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.62, at or below the proven-optimal 3.65, 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 SHYN.

Rhymes with SPINE STEIN ALIGN SWINE THINE

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SHINE is a kind of brightness or emit.

Synonyms fall strike smooth reflect polish beam

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
SHINE sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 15 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 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 75 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (4.8 of 5).

In a sentence

I shine light in the world.
© tatoeba.org contributor Nuel (CC BY 2.0 FR)
This is your chance to shine.
© 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).