Accepted guess Not a possible answer B tier for first-turn info

TALCS

TALCS is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.

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

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /tælks/

Noun

plural of talc

Verb

third-person singular simple present indicative of talc

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

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

Not used yet

No past answer date found.

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

How TALCS performs as a guess

Wordle accepts TALCS as a guess, but the solver does not list it as a possible answer.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 83.9% of games, misses completely in 16.1%, and leaves about 125 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #106 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.56 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

All four describe TALCS 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.

5.15 Entropy (bits)
125 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
94.7% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 90% of evaluated openers
0.80 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How TALCS 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.

3.56 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.65 Spread of game lengths
#106 Rank among openers
Opening with TALCS left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.65 means those games clustered within about 0.65 of a guess of the 3.56 average. It ranks #106 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
49
3 guesses
1,100
4 guesses
1,062
5 guesses
131
6 guesses
11
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
1 vowels
Common:
ALST

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
84%
Green tile
29%
All gray
16%

Feedback distribution

TALCS can come back 103 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

383 answers
163 answers
152 answers
147 answers
135 answers
99 answers
96 answers
92 answers
76 answers
64 answers
63 answers
50 answers
42 answers
42 answers
40 answers
39 answers
31 answers
30 answers
30 answers
29 answers
29 answers
28 answers
26 answers
21 answers
20 answers
20 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

T1A1L1C3S1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

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

Strategy after playing TALCS

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing TALCS:

16% chance
Suggested:
RIONE
7% chance
Suggested:
RIONE
6% chance
Suggested:
GOIER

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

16.1%
RIONE 6.14 bits
6.9%
RIONE 5.48 bits
6.4%
GOIER 5.25 bits
6.2%
DRONE 5.70 bits
5.7%
ROUET 5.37 bits
4.2%
ALANE 4.58 bits
4.0%
MORNE 4.67 bits
3.9%
ROUET 4.89 bits
3.2%
IRONE 5.26 bits
2.7%
RIONE 4.80 bits

Research on TALCS

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

Optimal play

Opening with TALCS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.62 guesses and ranks #683 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 TALCS can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.56, 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

One syllable Say it TALKS.

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, TALCS is a kind of mineral or powder.

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).