VODKA
Yes, VODKA was the Wordle answer on November 18, 2021 (Wordle #152).
As an opener, it rules out about 86.5% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈvɒdkə//ˈvɑdkə/
- Noun
-
A clear distilled alcoholic liquor made from grain mash.
- Noun
-
A serving of the above beverage.
Alternative forms: vodki, vodky
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: November 18, 2021 (#152).
See the full page for that puzzle: November 18, 2021 (#152).
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 VODKA performs as a guess
VODKA 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 73.6% of games, misses completely in 26.4%, and leaves about 320 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,279 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.82 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 VODKA 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 VODKA 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 VODKA in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
VODKA can come back 67 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 VODKA; 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 VODKA
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to VODKA.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing VODKA:
Research on VODKA
Game-tree analysis and word research for VODKA, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with VODKA, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.81 guesses and ranks #11,070 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 VODKA can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.82; proven optimal play reaches 3.81. 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 VAHDKUH.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, VODKA is a kind of spirits.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- VODKA sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 7 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 11, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 95 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with taste (4.2 of 5).
In a sentence
This is the vodka war.
Do you want some vodka?
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).