5 FiveLetterWords
Very unlikely Accepted guess C tier for first-turn info

TETES

TETES is an accepted guess. Its modelled answer likelihood is very unlikely; no globally completed appearance is recorded here.

No dictionary definition for TETES is recorded in our sourced data.

Meaning and pronunciation

We do not have a sourced definition for this word yet.

Check TETES on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Use TETES in a puzzle

As an opener, it rules out about 88.9% of possible answers.

Open Solver with TETES Open Word Finder

Wordle status

Answer chance: very unlikely. Roughly 0.05% within a year (about 1 in 2,113), under the model through 2026-11-05. This is an estimate, not a publisher forecast. How this is calculated.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Earlier benchmark pool

No

Membership in the preserved uniform benchmark; it is not a future eligibility rule.

Past Wordle answer

No completed appearance

No appearance in our globally completed history. A recent puzzle may still be live elsewhere.

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

How TETES performs as a guess

Wordle accepts TETES as a guess. It is outside this preserved uniform benchmark’s answer pool; that is not a claim about future eligibility.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 72.6% of games, misses completely in 27.4%, and leaves about 266 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,897 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.84 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.

T___S T in the 1st position and S in the 5th position T__E_ T in the 1st position and E in the 4th position _E__S E in the 2nd position and S in the 5th position TE_ES T in the 1st position, E in the 2nd position, E in the 4th position, and S in the 5th position

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

First-turn measures

All four describe TETES 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.

4.16 Entropy (bits)
266 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
88.9% Avg ruled out

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How TETES 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.

3.84 Avg guesses
99.83% Solved within six
0.72 Spread of game lengths
#12,897 Rank among openers
Opening with TETES left 4 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.72 means those games clustered within about 0.72 of a guess of the 3.84 average. It ranks #12,897 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
43
3 guesses
678
4 guesses
1,273
5 guesses
327
6 guesses
29

Composition

3/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
EST

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
73%
Green tile
32%
All gray
27%

When TETES is useful later

No standout example in the positions tested. All 108 sampled states were checked; TETES was legal in 54.

Sample and method

Every saved board is reachable within a six-turn game. Remaining turns equal six minus the saved history length. The sampling policy is independent of the expected-survivor metric. Two states at each of three depths per opener were selected by a fixed hash from an independent candidate-only sampling policy. Every accepted guess was evaluated. Model answer-model-2026-11-05-9183a914c959, data through 2026-11-05. The score measures expected survivors, not proved solve length or human difficulty.

How this is calculated.

How the solver finds TETES

The strategy receives only earlier guesses and their feedback. It does not know the answer before choosing a move. Guessing the answer itself on turn one is a lucky one-turn result, not a recommended general strategy.

Normal mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 56 after. This feedback leaves 56 candidates.

    All 56 surviving candidates

    TECHS, TEELS, TEEMS, TEENS, TEETS, TEFFS, TEGGS, TEGUS, TEILS, TEINS, TELES, TELLS, TELOS, TEMES, TEMPS, TENDS, TENES, TENTS, TESTS, TESTY, TETES, TETHS, TEXES, TEXTS, THEES, THENS, THEWS, TICES, TIDES, TIEFS, TIGES, TIKES, TILES, TIMES, TINES, TIZES, TOGES, TOKES, TOLES, TOMES, TONES, TOPES, TOSED, TOSES, TOTES, TOZES, TSKED, TUBES, TULES, TUNES, TUTES, TUXES, TYEES, TYKES, TYNES, TYPES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test NOLES against the 56 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    56 before → 16 after. This feedback leaves 16 candidates.

    All 16 surviving candidates

    TEMES, TETES, TEXES, THEES, TICES, TIDES, TIGES, TIKES, TIMES, TIZES, TUBES, TUTES, TUXES, TYEES, TYKES, TYPES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 2.634. Information: 1.392 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test TYEES against the 16 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    16 before → 3 after. This feedback leaves 3 candidates.

    All 3 surviving candidates

    TEMES, TETES, TEXES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 6.0. Information: 1.795 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Test TEMES against the 3 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    3 before → 2 after. This feedback leaves 2 candidates.

    All 2 surviving candidates

    TETES, TEXES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.667. Information: 0.918 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  5. Test TETES against the 2 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    2 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    TETES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 1.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 5 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 5.

Continue this board in the Solver

Hard Mode

Our solver: bounded weighted policy. Current-pool replay over 14,855 accepted words. Model through 2026-11-05.

  1. The fixed opener tests its five letters.

    14,855 before → 56 after. This feedback leaves 56 candidates.

    All 56 surviving candidates

    TECHS, TEELS, TEEMS, TEENS, TEETS, TEFFS, TEGGS, TEGUS, TEILS, TEINS, TELES, TELLS, TELOS, TEMES, TEMPS, TENDS, TENES, TENTS, TESTS, TESTY, TETES, TETHS, TEXES, TEXTS, THEES, THENS, THEWS, TICES, TIDES, TIEFS, TIGES, TIKES, TILES, TIMES, TINES, TIZES, TOGES, TOKES, TOLES, TOMES, TONES, TOPES, TOSED, TOSES, TOTES, TOZES, TSKED, TUBES, TULES, TUNES, TUTES, TUXES, TYEES, TYKES, TYNES, TYPES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 414.45. Information: 5.74 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  2. Test TEELS against the 56 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    56 before → 4 after. This feedback leaves 4 candidates.

    All 4 surviving candidates

    TEMES, TENES, TETES, TEXES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 3.189. Information: 1.351 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  3. Test TEMES against the 4 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    4 before → 3 after. This feedback leaves 3 candidates.

    All 3 surviving candidates

    TENES, TETES, TEXES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 2.5. Information: 0.811 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  4. Test TENES against the 3 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    3 before → 2 after. This feedback leaves 2 candidates.

    All 2 surviving candidates

    TETES, TEXES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.667. Information: 0.918 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

  5. Test TETES against the 2 candidates consistent with the earlier rows.

    2 before → 1 after. The answer is submitted and solved.

    All 1 surviving candidates

    TETES

    Decision measures before feedback

    Expected remaining candidates: 1.0. Information: 1.0 bits. These measures describe the decision before its realised feedback.

Solved in 5 guesses. Uniquely identified on turn 5.

Continue this board in the Solver

How the fixed opener panel performs on this answer

OpenerFirst feedbackSurvivorsNormalHard Mode
TARSE20011 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)5655
CRANE00001 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)14336Not solved in six
SLATE10011 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)15555
ADIEU00020 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)7596Not solved in six
STARE11001 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)210Not solved in sixNot solved in six
AUDIO00000 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)12516Not solved in six
RAISE00011 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)8525Not solved in six
ROATE00011 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)31255
SALET10021 (0 grey, 1 yellow, 2 green)7456
Normal mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 0 · 3 guesses: 0 · 4 guesses: 0 · 5 guesses: 5 · 6 guesses: 3 · Failed in six: 1
Hard Mode
1 guess: 0 · 2 guesses: 0 · 3 guesses: 0 · 4 guesses: 0 · 5 guesses: 3 · 6 guesses: 1 · Failed in six: 5

The nine openers use the same pool and continuation policy. Across both modes: 5–6 guesses among successes; 6 of 18 configurations failed. This is performance on this answer, not an overall opener ranking.

20 openers set up a two-turn opportunity; examples include TESTS, TEXTS, TWEET, TENTS, TENET, TETRA, TESTY, TESTA, TEATS, TESTE. After their feedback, this answer is among the most likely survivors with at least half the model probability. This is an opportunity, not a guarantee. An opener that immediately solves is excluded.

Why this answer can be difficult

The answer contains 2 copies of T, 2 copies of E. Feedback allocates exact matches before misplaced copies; a grey duplicate does not erase another coloured copy.

The worked board still allows 3 different answers at one later decision: TEMES, TETES, TEXES. These are mechanical alternatives, not a judgement of vocabulary difficulty.

Vocabulary evidence and voluntary player results are reported separately from these solver observations.

Closest competing answers in this board

These words all fit the earlier feedback, rather than merely sharing similar spelling: TEMES, TETES, TEXES.

A lesson from this route

Before TEMES, 3 words still fit. Its feedback left 2; check the full survivor list before choosing the next answer.

Try another opener or a different move

How this is calculated

The current policy checks all remaining candidates and up to 128 fixed probes. At six or fewer candidates it uses bounded lookahead, preferring modelled six-turn success, then speed among successes. Larger states use expected survivors as a heuristic. These are recommendations, not proofs of optimal play. Hard Mode retains green positions and revealed letter counts; it allows grey letters and a yellow in the same position. Candidate-only play is stricter.

Methods and limitations

Feedback distribution

TETES can come back 75 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

654 answers
248 answers
220 answers
164 answers
139 answers
108 answers
108 answers
102 answers
65 answers
52 answers
43 answers
40 answers
36 answers
29 answers
28 answers
27 answers
26 answers
20 answers
19 answers
17 answers
14 answers
14 answers
14 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
10 answers
8 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

T1E1T1E1S1
Total: 5 points

Words With Friends

Total: 5 points

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

Try next

CAROL RAILE SLAIN RAINY FAINT SORAL

Strategy after playing TETES

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing TETES:

27% chance
Suggested:
CAROL
10% chance
Suggested:
RAILE
9% chance
Suggested:
SLAIN

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

27.4% →
CAROL 5.91 bits
10.4% →
RAILE 4.99 bits
9.2% →
SLAIN 4.97 bits
6.9% →
RAINY 4.46 bits
5.8% →
FAINT 4.93 bits
4.5% →
SORAL 4.50 bits
4.5% →
STAIR 4.40 bits
4.3% →
CLARY 4.98 bits
2.7% →
ROANY 4.52 bits
2.2% →
CARLE 4.57 bits

Research on TETES

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

Optimal play

Opening with TETES, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.83 guesses and ranks #11,838 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 TETES can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.84; proven optimal play reaches 3.83. The fixed strategy accounts for the difference.

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.

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
TETES sits in the rare band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words in the source corpus. Corpus frequency does not measure every reader’s familiarity.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0).