SOLAR
Yes, SOLAR was the Wordle answer on January 16, 2022 (Wordle #211).
As an opener, it rules out about 96.4% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈsəʊ.lə//ˈsoʊ.ləɹ/
- Adjective
-
Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from the sun.
“solar light”
- Adjective
-
Measured by the progress or revolution of the sun in the ecliptic; as, the solar year.
- Noun
-
Ellipsis of solar energy.
- Noun
-
A fictional currency used in science fiction.
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
Used oncePast Wordle answer: January 16, 2022 (#211).
See the full page for that puzzle: January 16, 2022 (#211).
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 SOLAR performs as a guess
SOLAR 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 89.8% of games, misses completely in 10.2%, and leaves about 86 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,167 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.60 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 SOLAR 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 SOLAR 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 SOLAR in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
SOLAR can come back 122 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 SOLAR; 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 SOLAR
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to SOLAR.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing SOLAR:
Research on SOLAR
Game-tree analysis and word research for SOLAR, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with SOLAR, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.62 guesses and ranks #633 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 SOLAR can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.60, at or below the proven-optimal 3.62, 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.
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it SOHLUR.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- SOLAR sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 34 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 10, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 49 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.5 of 5).
In a sentence
How big is our solar system?
Solar power is the way of the future.
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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).