THUMB
Yes, THUMB has been the Wordle answer on October 12, 2021 (Wordle #115) and June 7, 2026 (Wordle #1814).
As an opener, it rules out about 84.5% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈθʌm/[ˈθʌ̈m]
- Noun
-
The shortest and thickest digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.
- Noun
-
The part of a slider that may be moved linearly along the slider.
“a scroll-bar thumb”
- Verb
-
To touch or cover with the thumb.
“to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon”
- Verb
-
To turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily.
“thumb through”
Alternative forms: thum, thume, thumbe
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
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used 2 timesPast Wordle answer: October 12, 2021 (#115); June 7, 2026 (#1814).
See the full page for each puzzle: October 12, 2021 (#115); June 7, 2026 (#1814).
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 THUMB performs as a guess
THUMB is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 64.7% of games, misses completely in 35.3%, and leaves about 367 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #8,683 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.73 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 THUMB 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 THUMB 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
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches THUMB in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
THUMB can come back 74 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 THUMB; 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 THUMB
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to THUMB.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing THUMB:
Research on THUMB
Game-tree analysis and word research for THUMB, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with THUMB, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.78 guesses and ranks #9,741 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.88 guesses at best and is rank #3,602 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.73, at or below the proven-optimal 3.78, 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, THUMB is a kind of finger or covering.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- THUMB sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 10 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 3, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 96 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
In a sentence
I have a thumb drive.
He has her under his thumb.
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); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).