THUGS
THUGS is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.
As an opener, it rules out about 87.8% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
- Noun
-
plural of thug
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
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
NoThe solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.
Past Wordle answer
Not used yetNo past answer date found.
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How THUGS performs as a guess
Wordle accepts THUGS 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 69.3% of games, misses completely in 30.7%, and leaves about 291 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #5,700 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.68 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe THUGS 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.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How THUGS 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.
Composition
Feedback chances
Feedback distribution
THUGS can come back 92 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for THUGS; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing THUGS
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to THUGS.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing THUGS:
Research on THUGS
Game-tree analysis and word research for THUGS, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with THUGS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.75 guesses and ranks #8,180 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 THUGS can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.68, at or below the proven-optimal 3.75, 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, THUGS is a kind of criminal or do.
Synonyms TOUGH hood punk goon
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- THUGS sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 4 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.5 of 5).
In a sentence
Even thugs are afraid of him.
She tried to arrest those thugs.
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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).