SHOCK
SHOCK is on the solver's possible-answer list but has not appeared as a Wordle answer yet.
As an opener, it rules out about 86.8% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ʃɒk//ʃɔk//ʃɑk/
- Noun
-
A sudden, heavy impact.
“The train hit the buffers with a great shock.”
- Noun
-
A shock absorber (typically in the suspension of a vehicle).
“If your truck's been riding rough, it might need new shocks.”
- Adjective
-
Causing intense surprise, horror, etc.; unexpected and shocking.
“His shock announcement rocked the tennis world.”
- Verb
-
To cause to be emotionally shocked; to cause (someone) to feel greatly surprised or upset.
“The disaster shocked the world.”
Alternative forms: choque
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
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Not used yetNo past answer date found.
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 →How SHOCK performs as a guess
SHOCK 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 67.8% of games, misses completely in 32.2%, and leaves about 313 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,443 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.69 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 SHOCK 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 SHOCK 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 SHOCK in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
SHOCK can come back 84 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 SHOCK; 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 SHOCK
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SHOCK.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SHOCK:
Research on SHOCK
Game-tree analysis and word research for SHOCK, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SHOCK, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.75 guesses and ranks #7,917 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.87 guesses at best and is rank #3,506 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.69, at or below the proven-optimal 3.75, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, SHOCK is a kind of amazement or fight.
Synonyms FLOOR impact blow jar outrage cushion
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- SHOCK sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 29 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 7, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 46 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with internal bodily sensation (3.7 of 5).
In a sentence
He was just in shock.
It was a shock to me.
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).