5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess F tier opener

SKUNK

Yes, SKUNK was the Wordle answer on October 11, 2023 (Wordle #844).

As an opener, it rules out about 80.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with SKUNK Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /skʌŋk/

Noun

Any of various small mammals, of most genera of the family Mephitidae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black coat with white markings and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.

Noun

A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.

Verb

To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.

“I skunked him at cards.”

Verb

To win by thirty or more points.

Alternative forms: scunck

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: October 11, 2023 (#844).

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

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How SKUNK performs as a guess

SKUNK is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,359 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 59.6% of games, misses completely in 40.4%, and leaves about 459 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #12,991 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.84 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.

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

S___K S in the 1st position and K in the 5th position S__N_ S in the 1st position and N in the 4th position

Try next

TALER CANER PLATE ROATE DROLE GRATE
Words starting with S Words ending with K

First-turn measures

3.46 Entropy (bits)
459 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
80.6% Avg ruled out

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How SKUNK 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.

3.84 Avg guesses
99.9% Win rate
0.70 Volatility
#12,991 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, SKUNK ranks #12,991 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
27
3 guesses
685
4 guesses
1,292
5 guesses
322
6 guesses
25

Composition

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
NSU

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
60%
Green tile
28%
All gray
40%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I M Y
S K U N K

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SKUNK in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

56 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

954
231
199
163
160
93
75
46
39
39
38
38
25
24
23
22
21
20
17
17
14
10
7
6
5
5
5
5
5
5

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SKUNK:

40% chance
Suggested:
TALER
10% chance
Suggested:
CANER
8% chance
Suggested:
PLATE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

40.4% →
TALER 6.14 bits
9.8% →
CANER 5.25 bits
8.4% →
PLATE 5.54 bits
6.9% →
ROATE 5.52 bits
6.8% →
DROLE 4.78 bits
3.9% →
GRATE 4.96 bits
3.2% →
CLOTE 5.05 bits
1.9% →
TUILE 4.33 bits
1.7% →
CARLE 4.30 bits
1.7% →
PAIRE 4.38 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1K5U1N1K5
Total: 13 points

Words With Friends

Total: 15 points

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