SNUFF
SNUFF is on the solver's possible-answer list and has no appearance in our globally completed Wordle history.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /snʌf//snɐf//snʊf/
- Noun
-
Finely ground or pulverized tobacco (or other plant derivative) intended for use by being sniffed or snorted into the nose.
- Noun
-
Fine-ground or minced tobacco, dry or moistened, intended for use by placing a pinch behind the lip or beneath the tongue.
- Verb
-
To inhale through the nose.
- Verb
-
To turn up the nose and inhale air, as an expression of contempt; hence, to take offense.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
From Middle English snoffe, snuffe, of uncertain origin. Compare Middle Dutch snuf, snof (“snuff”), Dutch sneuvelen (“to die in battle”).
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it SNUHF.
Rhymes with STUFF TOUGH ROUGH BLUFF FLUFF
Related meanings
Synonyms SNIFF
In a sentence
But who would like to buy such a bad snuff?
This translation is not quite up to snuff.
Use SNUFF in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 81.4% 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
No completed appearanceNo 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.
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See what the public sample says →How SNUFF performs as a guess
SNUFF 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 61.5% of games, misses completely in 38.5%, and leaves about 444 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #13,005 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe SNUFF 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 SNUFF 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 SNUFF in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
SNUFF can come back 52 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 SNUFF; 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 SNUFF
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SNUFF.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SNUFF:
Research on SNUFF
Game-tree analysis and word research for SNUFF, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SNUFF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.89 guesses and ranks #13,666 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 4.03 guesses at best and is rank #6,541 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.84, at or below the proven-optimal 3.89, 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
- SNUFF sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about once per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
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).