TOTEM
Yes, TOTEM was the Wordle answer on September 4, 2021 (Wordle #77).
As an opener, it rules out about 91.5% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈtoʊtəm//ˈtəʊtəm/
- Noun
-
Any natural object or living creature that serves as an emblem of a tribe, clan or family; the representation of such an object or creature.
- Noun
-
The clan whose kinship is defined in reference to such an object or creature.
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 oncePast Wordle answer: September 4, 2021 (#77).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 4, 2021 (#77).
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 TOTEM performs as a guess
TOTEM 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 80.7% of games, misses completely in 19.3%, and leaves about 203 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #10,177 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.77 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 TOTEM 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 TOTEM 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 TOTEM in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
TOTEM can come back 91 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 TOTEM; 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 TOTEM
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to TOTEM.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing TOTEM:
Research on TOTEM
Game-tree analysis and word research for TOTEM, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with TOTEM, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.75 guesses and ranks #8,279 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 TOTEM can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.77; proven optimal play reaches 3.75. 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.
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it TOHTUHM.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, TOTEM is a kind of tribe or emblem.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- TOTEM sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about once 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 (4.6 of 5).
In a sentence
What is your totem animal?
I'm low on the totem pole.
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).