5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess B tier for first-turn info

STEAM

Yes, STEAM was the Wordle answer on September 23, 2024 (Wordle #1192).

As an opener, it rules out about 94.7% of possible answers.

Open Solver with STEAM Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /stiːm/

Noun

The hot gaseous form of water, formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase (at or above its boiling point temperature).

Noun

The suspended condensate (cloud) formed by water vapour when it encounters colder air.

Verb

To cook with steam.

“The best way to cook artichokes is to steam them.”

Verb

To be cooked with steam.

“The artichokes are steaming in the pot.”

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

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

Used once

Past Wordle answer: September 23, 2024 (#1192).

See the full page for that puzzle: September 23, 2024 (#1192).

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

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How verification and withdrawal work

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How STEAM performs as a guess

STEAM 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 87.8% of games, misses completely in 12.2%, and leaves about 126 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #2,524 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.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

S___M S in the 1st position and M in the 5th position S__A_ S in the 1st position and A in the 4th position _T__M T in the 2nd position and M in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in STEAM.

First-turn measures

All four describe STEAM 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.

5.10 Entropy (bits)
126 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
94.7% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 88% of evaluated openers
0.85 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How STEAM 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.

3.63 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#2,524 Rank among openers
Opening with STEAM left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.63 average. It ranks #2,524 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
77
3 guesses
907
4 guesses
1,187
5 guesses
167
6 guesses
12
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
AEST

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
88%
Green tile
28%
All gray
12%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S P L A T
A D M I N
S T E A M

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches STEAM in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

STEAM can come back 108 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

298 answers
290 answers
190 answers
138 answers
134 answers
92 answers
91 answers
81 answers
58 answers
50 answers
49 answers
48 answers
46 answers
43 answers
42 answers
41 answers
40 answers
40 answers
33 answers
27 answers
24 answers
24 answers
24 answers
23 answers
23 answers
23 answers
20 answers
20 answers
18 answers
17 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1T1E1A1M3
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 8 points

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

Try next

RIONE CRONY CAIRN GLARE TROUT TRIED

Strategy after playing STEAM

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing STEAM:

13% chance
Suggested:
RIONE
12% chance
Suggested:
CRONY
8% chance
Suggested:
CAIRN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

12.6% →
RIONE 5.30 bits
12.2% →
CRONY 5.71 bits
8.0% →
CAIRN 5.17 bits
5.8% →
GLARE 4.82 bits
5.6% →
TROUT 5.13 bits
3.9% →
TRIED 4.61 bits
3.8% →
TAROT 4.43 bits
3.4% →
SPOIL 4.10 bits
2.4% →
LUMPY 4.62 bits
2.1% →
CREED 4.32 bits

Research on STEAM

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

Optimal play

Opening with STEAM, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.68 guesses and ranks #3,543 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 STEAM can 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.

How it sounds

One syllable Say it STEEM.

Rhymes with DREAM CREAM THEME CREME GLEAM

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, STEAM is a kind of vapor or go.

Synonyms steamer

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
STEAM sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 33 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 B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 6, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 77 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.9 of 5).

In a sentence

Where did you steam them?
© tatoeba.org contributor Amastan (CC BY 2.0 FR)
I have to let off steam.
© tatoeba.org contributor CM (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).