TRAPS
TRAPS 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: /tɹæps/
- Noun
-
plural of trap
- Noun
-
A trap set (drum kit).
- Verb
-
third-person singular simple present indicative of trap
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 TRAPS performs as a guess
Wordle accepts TRAPS 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 84.1% of games, misses completely in 15.9%, and leaves about 126 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #149 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.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe TRAPS 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 TRAPS 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
TRAPS can come back 114 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 TRAPS; 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 TRAPS
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to TRAPS.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing TRAPS:
Research on TRAPS
Game-tree analysis and word research for TRAPS, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with TRAPS, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.62 guesses and ranks #697 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.71 guesses at best and is rank #58 of the 7,453 openers that can still 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.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, TRAPS is a kind of device or drain.
Synonyms hole pin bunker ambush SNARE
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- TRAPS sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 6 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 (3.8 of 5).
In a sentence
Life is full of traps.
Do you have enough traps?
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).