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

STEEL

Yes, STEEL was the Wordle answer on April 13, 2024 (Wordle #1029).

As an opener, it rules out about 93.6% of possible answers.

Open Solver with STEEL Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /stiːl/[stiːɫ]

Noun

An artificial metal produced from iron, harder and more elastic than elemental iron; used figuratively as a symbol of hardness.

Noun

Any item made of this metal, particularly including:

Adjective

Made of steel.

Adjective

Similar to steel in color, strength, or the like; steely.

Alternative forms: steele

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: April 13, 2024 (#1029).

See the full page for that puzzle: April 13, 2024 (#1029).

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 STEEL performs as a guess

STEEL 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 82.4% of games, misses completely in 17.6%, and leaves about 151 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #4,819 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.
See strategy patterns

Useful pattern pages

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

S___L S in the 1st position and L in the 5th position S__E_ S in the 1st position and E in the 4th position _T__L T in the 2nd position and L in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe STEEL 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.

4.95 Entropy (bits)
151 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
93.6% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 81% of evaluated openers
1.00 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How STEEL 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
99.87% Solved within six
0.70 Spread of game lengths
#4,819 Rank among openers
Opening with STEEL left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.70 means those games clustered within about 0.70 of a guess of the 3.67 average. It ranks #4,819 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
57
3 guesses
902
4 guesses
1,172
5 guesses
202
6 guesses
17
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

4/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ELST

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
82%
Green tile
37%
All gray
18%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L E E T
S T E E L

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches STEEL in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

STEEL can come back 104 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

418 answers
213 answers
210 answers
176 answers
112 answers
99 answers
86 answers
85 answers
73 answers
56 answers
45 answers
41 answers
40 answers
40 answers
38 answers
35 answers
32 answers
30 answers
29 answers
25 answers
23 answers
20 answers
20 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
15 answers
15 answers
15 answers
14 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1T1E1E1L1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 6 points

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

Try next

ROANY TRAIT IRADE COALY RAINY TIARE

Strategy after playing STEEL

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing STEEL:

18% chance
Suggested:
ROANY
9% chance
Suggested:
TRAIT
9% chance
Suggested:
IRADE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

17.6% →
ROANY 5.77 bits
9.0% →
TRAIT 5.41 bits
8.8% →
IRADE 5.17 bits
7.4% →
COALY 4.92 bits
4.7% →
RAINY 4.36 bits
4.2% →
ROANY 4.76 bits
3.6% →
TIARE 4.67 bits
3.6% →
BAILE 4.46 bits
3.1% →
AMISS 4.81 bits
2.4% →
RAINY 4.23 bits

Research on STEEL

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

Optimal play

Opening with STEEL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.69 guesses and ranks #4,308 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 STEEL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.67, at or below the proven-optimal 3.69, 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 STEEL.

Rhymes with WHEEL IDEAL STEAL KNEEL SPIEL

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, STEEL is a kind of metal or arm.

Synonyms BRAND SWORD BLADE NERVE

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
STEEL sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 51 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 8, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 80 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.8 of 5).

In a sentence

It is made of steel.
© tatoeba.org contributor OsoHombre (CC BY 2.0 FR)
He has a will of steel.
© tatoeba.org contributor orcrist (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).