Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess B tier opener

STERN

Yes, STERN was the Wordle answer on September 4, 2024 (Wordle #1173).

As an opener, it rules out about 95.8% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /stɜːn//stɝn/

Adjective

Having a hardness and severity of nature or manner.

Adjective

Grim and forbidding in appearance.

“The remark earned me a stern rebuke.”

Noun

The rear part (after end) of a ship or other vessel.

Noun

The post of management or direction.

Alternative forms: sterne

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 4, 2024 (#1173).

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

Wordle Observatory

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About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How STERN performs as a guess

STERN is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,358 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 88.8% of games, misses completely in 11.2%, and leaves about 100 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #1,389 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.61 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.

First-turn measures

5.36 Entropy (bits)
100 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
95.8% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 96% of evaluated openers
0.59 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How STERN 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.

3.61 Avg guesses
99.9% Win rate
0.72 Volatility
#1,389 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, STERN ranks #1,389 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
83
3 guesses
973
4 guesses
1,096
5 guesses
176
6 guesses
22
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.45 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
ENRST

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
89%
Green tile
30%
All gray
11%

Example solver route

R O A T E
E N T E R
S T E R N

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches STERN in 3 guesses.

Feedback distribution

119 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

264
189
182
143
129
113
83
78
69
62
59
52
52
43
37
33
31
31
29
29
28
27
24
23
22
22
22
22
22
21

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing STERN:

11% chance
Suggested:
COALY
8% chance
Suggested:
BAILE
8% chance
Suggested:
LAIDE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

11.2%
COALY 5.67 bits
8.0%
BAILE 5.32 bits
7.7%
LAIDE 4.34 bits
6.1%
CAROL 5.39 bits
5.5%
TOTAL 4.87 bits
4.8%
COALY 4.91 bits
3.5%
LAIDE 4.57 bits
3.3%
COALY 4.84 bits
2.9%
AINEE 4.35 bits
2.6%
AMISS 4.68 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1T1E1R1N1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 6 points

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