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

SKELF

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

No dictionary definition for SKELF is recorded in our sourced data.

Meaning and pronunciation

We do not have a sourced definition for this word yet.

Check SKELF on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Use SKELF in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 90.1% of possible answers.

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

No completed appearance

No appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.

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

How SKELF performs as a guess

Wordle accepts SKELF 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 78.1% of games, misses completely in 21.9%, and leaves about 236 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,346 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.73 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 SKELF 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.

4.30 Entropy (bits)
236 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
90.1% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SKELF 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.

3.73 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#8,346 Rank among openers
Opening with SKELF solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.73 average. It ranks #8,346 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
53
3 guesses
784
4 guesses
1,275
5 guesses
236
6 guesses
6

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
ELS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
78%
Green tile
27%
All gray
22%

Feedback distribution

SKELF can come back 79 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

522 answers
429 answers
156 answers
144 answers
122 answers
105 answers
81 answers
72 answers
65 answers
64 answers
54 answers
51 answers
40 answers
37 answers
31 answers
30 answers
29 answers
26 answers
23 answers
22 answers
21 answers
20 answers
19 answers
15 answers
14 answers
13 answers
11 answers
9 answers
8 answers
7 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1K5E1L1F4
Total: 12 points

Words With Friends

Total: 13 points

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

Strategy after playing SKELF

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SKELF:

22% chance
Suggested:
RATIO
18% chance
Suggested:
ROATE
7% chance
Suggested:
TONAL

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

21.9% →
RATIO 5.90 bits
18.0% →
ROATE 5.33 bits
6.5% →
TONAL 5.03 bits
6.0% →
RANEE 4.68 bits
5.1% →
ROAST 4.72 bits
4.4% →
ROAST 4.96 bits
3.4% →
ROAST 4.84 bits
3.0% →
PARTE 4.47 bits
2.7% →
IDYLL 4.15 bits
2.7% →
TRADE 4.72 bits

Research on SKELF

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

Optimal play

Opening with SKELF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.78 guesses and ranks #9,708 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.89 guesses at best and is rank #3,889 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.73, at or below the proven-optimal 3.78, 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.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT).