SNIFF
SNIFF is on the solver's possible-answer list but has not appeared as a Wordle answer yet.
As an opener, it rules out about 84.1% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /snɪf//snəf/
- Verb
-
To make a short, audible inhalation, through the nose, as when smelling something.
“The dog sniffed around the park, searching for a nice scent.”
- Verb
-
To say (something) while sniffing, such as in case of illness or unhappiness, or in contempt.
“"He's never coming back, is he?" she sniffed while looking at a picture of him.”
- Noun
-
An instance of sniffing.
“She gave the flowers a quick sniff to check they were real.”
- Noun
-
A quantity of something that is inhaled through the nose.
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
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Not used yetNo past answer date found.
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 →How SNIFF performs as a guess
SNIFF 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 64.9% of games, misses completely in 35.1%, and leaves about 378 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,076 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.81 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 SNIFF 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 SNIFF 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 SNIFF in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
SNIFF can come back 58 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 SNIFF; 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 SNIFF
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SNIFF.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SNIFF:
Research on SNIFF
Game-tree analysis and word research for SNIFF, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SNIFF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.86 guesses and ranks #12,997 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 4.01 guesses at best and is rank #6,325 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.81, at or below the proven-optimal 3.86, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, SNIFF is a kind of smell or perceive.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- SNIFF sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 3 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
In a sentence
I like to sniff mushrooms.
Why do you sniff things you see on the ground?
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.