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

SLEEP

Yes, SLEEP was the Wordle answer on December 7, 2023 (Wordle #901).

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈsliːp/[ˈslɪi̯p]

Verb

To rest in a state of reduced consciousness.

“You should sleep eight hours a day.”

Verb

To have sexual intercourse (see sleep with).

“Last night we slept together for the first time.”

Noun

The state of reduced consciousness during which a human or animal rests in a daily rhythm.

“I really need some sleep.”

Noun

An act or instance of sleeping.

“I’m just going to have a quick sleep.”

Alternative forms: sleepe

Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.

Etymology

From Middle English slepen, from Anglian Old English slēpan (West Saxon Old English slǣpan), from Proto-West Germanic *slāpan, from Proto-Germanic *slēpaną (“to sleep”).

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

How it sounds

One syllable Say it SLEEP.

Rhymes with CHEAP SHEEP STEEP SWEEP CREEP

Related meanings

Synonyms rest nap slumber kip

Opposites wake

In a sentence

I like to sleep in.
© tatoeba.org contributor Ergulis (CC BY 2.0 FR)
You will have to sleep.
© tatoeba.org contributor Tom9358 (CC BY 2.0 FR)

Use SLEEP in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 91.8% of possible answers.

Open Solver with SLEEP Open Word Finder

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: December 7, 2023 (#901).

See the full page for that puzzle: December 7, 2023 (#901).

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

The answer word and timezone are used transiently to verify this page, then discarded. The receipt prevents duplicate submissions and lets this browser withdraw later; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. Read the full privacy details.

SLEEP in Connections

5 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.

How SLEEP performs as a guess

SLEEP is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 77.3% of games, misses completely in 22.7%, and leaves about 197 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,824 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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___P S in the 1st position and P in the 5th position S__E_ S in the 1st position and E in the 4th position _L__P L in the 2nd position and P in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe SLEEP 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.

4.75 Entropy (bits)
197 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
91.8% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SLEEP 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.

3.68 Avg guesses
100% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#5,824 Rank among openers
Opening with SLEEP solved every answer in the snapshot within six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.68 average. It ranks #5,824 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
71
3 guesses
861
4 guesses
1,179
5 guesses
225
6 guesses
17

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ELS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
77%
Green tile
40%
All gray
23%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S I L E N
S L E E K
S L E E P

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SLEEP in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

SLEEP can come back 106 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

540 answers
258 answers
176 answers
132 answers
128 answers
101 answers
81 answers
80 answers
77 answers
47 answers
42 answers
42 answers
38 answers
37 answers
35 answers
26 answers
23 answers
23 answers
20 answers
20 answers
19 answers
17 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
13 answers
13 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1L1E1E1P3
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Try next

TRAIN TIARE LOYAL ROAST ROANY THALE

Strategy after playing SLEEP

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SLEEP:

23% chance
Suggested:
TRAIN
11% chance
Suggested:
TIARE
7% chance
Suggested:
LOYAL

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

22.7% →
TRAIN 6.02 bits
10.8% →
TIARE 5.37 bits
7.4% →
LOYAL 5.03 bits
5.5% →
ROAST 4.57 bits
5.4% →
ROANY 4.26 bits
4.2% →
ROAST 4.91 bits
3.4% →
THALE 4.33 bits
3.4% →
PATIO 4.96 bits
3.2% →
CANOE 4.03 bits
2.0% →
ROAST 4.26 bits

Research on SLEEP

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

Optimal play

Opening with SLEEP, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #4,948 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 SLEEP can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.68, at or below the proven-optimal 3.70, 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.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
SLEEP sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 112 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 3, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 82 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with internal bodily sensation (3.5 of 5).

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).