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

SKILL

Yes, SKILL was the Wordle answer on February 6, 2022 (Wordle #232).

As an opener, it rules out about 86.4% of possible answers.

Open Solver with SKILL Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /skɪl/[skɪɫ][skɪo̯]

Noun

A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.

“Where did you pick up that skill?”

Noun

A reusable configuration (prompt) that defines how an AI agent performs a specific task.

Adjective

Great, excellent.

Verb

To set apart; separate.

Alternative forms: skil

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: February 6, 2022 (#232).

See the full page for that puzzle: February 6, 2022 (#232).

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 SKILL performs as a guess

SKILL 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 323 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,257 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.75 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___L S in the 1st position and L in the 5th position S__L_ S in the 1st position and L in the 4th position _K__L K in the 2nd position and L in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in SKILL.

First-turn measures

All four describe SKILL 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.

3.97 Entropy (bits)
323 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
86.4% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 21% of evaluated openers
1.97 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SKILL 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.

3.75 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#9,257 Rank among openers
Opening with SKILL left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.75 average. It ranks #9,257 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
38
3 guesses
814
4 guesses
1,226
5 guesses
254
6 guesses
20
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:
ILS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
68%
Green tile
34%
All gray
32%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I M Y
P S H A W
S K I L L

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SKILL in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

SKILL can come back 73 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

764 answers
233 answers
180 answers
178 answers
155 answers
121 answers
77 answers
76 answers
53 answers
43 answers
34 answers
33 answers
31 answers
30 answers
28 answers
27 answers
25 answers
25 answers
23 answers
21 answers
21 answers
16 answers
16 answers
12 answers
10 answers
8 answers
7 answers
6 answers
6 answers
6 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1K5I1L1L1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Try next

ROATE RONTE PARTE TRONE TONER CARNE

Strategy after playing SKILL

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SKILL:

32% chance
Suggested:
ROATE
10% chance
Suggested:
RONTE
8% chance
Suggested:
PARTE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

32.2% →
ROATE 6.19 bits
9.8% →
RONTE 5.36 bits
7.6% →
PARTE 5.49 bits
7.5% →
ROATE 5.30 bits
6.5% →
ROATE 5.59 bits
5.1% →
TRONE 5.18 bits
3.2% →
TONER 4.56 bits
3.2% →
CARNE 5.22 bits
2.2% →
CARTE 4.41 bits
1.8% →
TILDE 4.27 bits

Research on SKILL

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

Optimal play

Opening with SKILL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.81 guesses and ranks #11,329 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.96 guesses at best and is rank #5,449 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.75, at or below the proven-optimal 3.81, 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 SKIHL.

Rhymes with STILL UNTIL CHILL DRILL GRILL

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, SKILL is a kind of power or ability.

Synonyms science acquisition accomplishment attainment

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
SKILL sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 26 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 A1); among the first words English learners study.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 6, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 40 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.0 of 5).

In a sentence

Do you have the skill to do that?
© tatoeba.org contributor CK (CC BY 2.0 FR)
I don't have the skill to do that.
© 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).