Possible answer Not used yet B tier for first-turn info

SNEER

SNEER is on the solver's possible-answer list and has no appearance in our globally completed Wordle history.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /snɪə̯//snɪɚ̯/

Verb

To raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn.

Verb

To utter with a grimace or contemptuous expression; to say sneeringly.

“to sneer fulsome lies at a person”

Noun

A facial expression where one slightly raises one corner of the upper lip, generally indicating scorn.

Noun

A display of contempt; scorn.

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

Etymology

From Middle English sneren (“to mock, scoff at”), from Old English fnǣran (“to snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *fnāʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *fnesaną (“to pant, gasp”). Akin to North Frisian sneere (“to scorn”), Middle High German snerren (“to chatter; gossip”), Danish snerre (“to growl, snarl”).

Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)

How it sounds

One syllable Say it SNIHR.

Rhymes with CLEAR CHEER SHEER QUEER STEER

In a sentence

There was a laughing devil in his sneer.
© tatoeba.org contributor Scott (CC BY 2.0 FR)
A frank laugh is better than a yellow sneer.
© tatoeba.org contributor AmarMecheri (CC BY 2.0 FR)

Use SNEER in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 93.9% 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

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

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 SNEER performs as a guess

SNEER 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 83.3% of games, misses completely in 16.7%, and leaves about 146 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,096 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.67 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 SNEER 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.

4.97 Entropy (bits)
146 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.9% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How SNEER 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.

3.67 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.73 Spread of game lengths
#5,096 Rank among openers
Opening with SNEER left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.73 means those games clustered within about 0.73 of a guess of the 3.67 average. It ranks #5,096 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
79
3 guesses
869
4 guesses
1,167
5 guesses
215
6 guesses
21

Composition

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ENRS

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
83%
Green tile
37%
All gray
17%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S I L E D
P E R C H
S N E E R

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches SNEER in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

SNEER can come back 115 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

398 answers
218 answers
195 answers
174 answers
124 answers
124 answers
94 answers
93 answers
62 answers
53 answers
51 answers
46 answers
44 answers
42 answers
40 answers
39 answers
39 answers
32 answers
27 answers
24 answers
23 answers
21 answers
18 answers
17 answers
17 answers
14 answers
14 answers
13 answers
13 answers
13 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1N1E1E1R1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 6 points

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

Strategy after playing SNEER

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing SNEER:

17% chance
Suggested:
COALY
9% chance
Suggested:
COALY
8% chance
Suggested:
DEALT

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.7% →
COALY 5.64 bits
9.1% →
COALY 5.13 bits
8.2% →
DEALT 5.40 bits
7.3% →
TONIC 5.00 bits
5.2% →
COATE 4.65 bits
5.2% →
COALY 4.67 bits
3.9% →
OASIS 4.75 bits
3.9% →
COALY 3.42 bits
2.6% →
GROIN 4.33 bits
2.2% →
BAILE 4.28 bits

Research on SNEER

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

Optimal play

Opening with SNEER, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.70 guesses and ranks #4,593 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 SNEER can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.67, 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
SNEER sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words of written English; the band marks it as an uncommon word many players still recognize.
Learner level
Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.3 of 5).

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; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).