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

SHIRR

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

As an opener, it rules out about 90.8% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ʃɜː//ʃɜɹ//ʃɪr/

Verb

To make gathers in textiles by drawing together parallel threads.

Verb

To bake (a raw egg removed from its shell) in a baking dish.

Noun

A shirring.

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 SHIRR performs as a guess

Wordle accepts SHIRR 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 75.8% of games, misses completely in 24.2%, and leaves about 218 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #7,988 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.72 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 SHIRR 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.

4.44 Entropy (bits)
218 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.8% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 48% of evaluated openers
1.51 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SHIRR 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.

3.72 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.71 Spread of game lengths
#7,988 Rank among openers
Opening with SHIRR left 1 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 3.72 average. It ranks #7,988 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
34
3 guesses
882
4 guesses
1,168
5 guesses
246
6 guesses
23
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

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
IRS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
76%
Green tile
39%
All gray
24%

Feedback distribution

SHIRR can come back 74 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

574 answers
248 answers
196 answers
160 answers
107 answers
101 answers
100 answers
95 answers
55 answers
51 answers
47 answers
42 answers
42 answers
35 answers
33 answers
32 answers
31 answers
30 answers
30 answers
27 answers
25 answers
25 answers
23 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
15 answers
14 answers
11 answers
10 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1H4I1R1R1
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 7 points

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

Strategy after playing SHIRR

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SHIRR:

24% chance
Suggested:
ALONE
10% chance
Suggested:
COATE
8% chance
Suggested:
TILDE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

24.2%
ALONE 6.11 bits
10.4%
COATE 5.36 bits
8.3%
TILDE 5.15 bits
6.7%
LEANT 5.31 bits
4.5%
OLATE 5.25 bits
4.3%
LEANT 4.27 bits
4.2%
HAUTE 4.97 bits
4.0%
ALONE 5.03 bits
2.3%
OLATE 4.84 bits
2.1%
CONTE 3.85 bits

Research on SHIRR

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

Optimal play

Opening with SHIRR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.77 guesses and ranks #9,450 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 SHIRR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.72, at or below the proven-optimal 3.77, 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 SHUR.

Rhymes with OCCUR REFER INTER DETER INCUR

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SHIRR is a kind of bake.

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).