TROLL
Yes, TROLL was the Wordle answer on December 30, 2021 (Wordle #194).
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /tɹɒl//tɹəʊl//tɹɑl/
- Noun
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a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.
- Noun
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An ugly or unpleasant person.
- Verb
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Senses relating to a rolling motion.
- Verb
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Senses relating to a light, quick motion.
Alternative forms: trowl, trowle
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English trollen (“to go about, wander; to move (something) to and fro, rock; to roll; to turn”) [and other forms], of uncertain origin; perhaps in part from Old French troller (“to run here and there; to walk aimlessly, ramble, stroll; (hunting) to wander about looking for game”) (modern French troller); further etymology uncertain, yet probably from or related to Middle High German trollen (“to stroll, walk with short strides”) (modern German trollen (“to move sl…
Source: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA)
How it sounds
One syllable Say it TROHL.
Rhymes with WHOLE STOLE KNOLL ECOLE DROLL
Related meanings
Synonyms ROUND trolling
In a sentence
I am not a troll.
It was an old troll post.
Use TROLL in a puzzle
As an opener, it rules out about 93.2% of possible answers.
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: December 30, 2021 (#194).
See the full page for that puzzle: December 30, 2021 (#194).
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 →TROLL in Connections
4 recorded appearances in completed main-edition puzzles through . A category label alone does not establish a word's meaning.
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· Puzzle #1189
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TROLL appeared in PEOPLE IN AN ONLINE FORUM (green group).
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· Puzzle #1036
Reveal this appearance's category
TROLL appeared in ___ DOLL (purple group).
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· Puzzle #551
Reveal this appearance's category
TROLL appeared in FANTASY CREATURES (yellow group).
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· Puzzle #87
Reveal this appearance's category
TROLL appeared in CREATURES IN FOLKLORE (yellow group).
How TROLL performs as a guess
TROLL is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,384 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 82.4% of games, misses completely in 17.6%, and leaves about 162 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,173 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.69 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 TROLL 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 TROLL 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 TROLL in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
TROLL can come back 79 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 TROLL; 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 TROLL
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to TROLL.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing TROLL:
Research on TROLL
Game-tree analysis and word research for TROLL, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with TROLL, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.74 guesses and ranks #7,522 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 TROLL can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.69, at or below the proven-optimal 3.74, 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.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- TROLL sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 5 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 6, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 78 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with sight (3.6 of 5).
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); Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).