5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess B tier opener

STRAY

Yes, STRAY was the Wordle answer on December 19, 2024 (Wordle #1279).

As an opener, it rules out about 95.0% of possible answers.

Open Solver with STRAY Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /stɹeɪ/

Noun

Any domestic animal that lacks an enclosure, proper place, or company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray.

Noun

A person who is lost.

Verb

To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.

Verb

To wander from company or outside proper limits; to rove or roam at large; to go astray.

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: December 19, 2024 (#1279).

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

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

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 STRAY performs as a guess

STRAY 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 86.9% of games, misses completely in 13.1%, and leaves about 117 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #2,467 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.

Useful pattern pages

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

S___Y S in the 1st position and Y in the 5th position S__A_ S in the 1st position and A in the 4th position _T__Y T in the 2nd position and Y in the 5th position

Try next

CLINE DECOR ALANE TOILE BRANE MOILE
Words starting with S Words ending with Y

First-turn measures

5.16 Entropy (bits)
117 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
95.0% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 90% of evaluated openers
0.79 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How STRAY 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
99.9% Win rate
0.68 Volatility
#2,467 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, STRAY ranks #2,467 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
56
3 guesses
961
4 guesses
1,147
5 guesses
171
6 guesses
15
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:
ARST

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
87%
Green tile
40%
All gray
13%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S P I A L
S T R A W
S T R A Y

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches STRAY in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

110 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

309
218
189
149
120
114
98
87
76
49
48
46
44
42
41
33
32
30
28
28
27
26
24
24
23
22
20
20
20
19

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing STRAY:

13% chance
Suggested:
CLINE
9% chance
Suggested:
DECOR
8% chance
Suggested:
ALANE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

13.1% →
CLINE 6.16 bits
9.2% →
DECOR 4.86 bits
8.0% →
ALANE 5.40 bits
6.3% →
TOILE 5.24 bits
5.1% →
BRANE 4.31 bits
4.8% →
MOILE 4.37 bits
4.2% →
CLINE 5.28 bits
3.7% →
CLINE 4.53 bits
3.2% →
TRIER 4.59 bits
2.1% →
CLONE 4.60 bits

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

S1T1R1A1Y4
Total: 8 points

Words With Friends

Total: 7 points

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