SMITH
Yes, SMITH was the Wordle answer on February 25, 2024 (Wordle #981).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /smɪθ/
- Noun
-
A craftsperson who works metal into desired forms using a hammer and other tools, sometimes heating the metal to make it more workable, especially a blacksmith.
- Noun
-
One who makes anything; wright.
- Verb
-
To forge, to form, usually on an anvil; by heating and pounding.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English smythen (“to work metal, forge, beat into, torment, refine (of God - to refine his chosen); to create, work as a blacksmith”), from Old English smiþian (“to forge, fabricate”), from Proto-West Germanic *smiþōn, from Proto-Germanic *smiþōną. Compare Dutch smeden, German schmieden.
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it SMIHTH.
In a sentence
My wife was a Smith.
I asked for Mr Smith.
Use SMITH in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 90.2% of possible answers.
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
Used oncePast Wordle answer: February 25, 2024 (#981).
See the full page for that puzzle: February 25, 2024 (#981).
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 →SMITH in Connections
2 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #445
Reveal this appearance's category
SMITH appeared in U.S. COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES (blue group).
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· Puzzle #67
Reveal this appearance's category
SMITH appeared in OCCUPATIONAL SURNAMES (green group).
How SMITH performs as a guess
SMITH 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 73.0% of games, misses completely in 27.0%, and leaves about 233 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #2,592 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.63 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 SMITH 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 SMITH 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 SMITH in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
SMITH can come back 104 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 SMITH; 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 SMITH
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SMITH.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SMITH:
Research on SMITH
Game-tree analysis and word research for SMITH, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SMITH, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.68 guesses and ranks #3,758 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.80 guesses at best and is rank #1,508 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.63, at or below the proven-optimal 3.68, 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
- SMITH sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 78 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.
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS.