5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess F tier opener

WHACK

Yes, WHACK was the Wordle answer on January 26, 2022 (Wordle #221).

As an opener, it rules out about 83.7% of possible answers.

Open Solver with WHACK Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈwæk//ˈʍæk/[ˈw̥æk]

Noun

The sound of a heavy strike.

Noun

The strike itself.

Verb

To hit, slap or strike.

“The bat whacked the baseball.”

Verb

To assassinate, bump off.

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

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

Yes

Included among the answers considered by the solver.

Past Wordle answer

Used once

Past Wordle answer: January 26, 2022 (#221).

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

Wordle Observatory

How did this puzzle feel?

About the project

Add an anonymous result and difficulty rating to the public, aggregate research dataset.

We send only this answer word for puzzle verification, the puzzle number, result, difficulty vote, Hard Mode flag, timezone and a random one-puzzle receipt token. The Observatory stores no answer word, grid, guesses, account, email, IP-derived ID or reusable player identifier. The puzzle-specific receipt prevents duplicate submissions and permits withdrawal; anyone with that token can withdraw, so keep browser-data exports private. See the privacy details.

How WHACK performs as a guess

WHACK is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,359 when every answer is treated as equally likely.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 65.6% of games, misses completely in 34.4%, and leaves about 385 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete v5 benchmark, it ranks #11,262 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.79 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.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

Useful pattern pages

If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.

W___K W in the 1st position and K in the 5th position W__C_ W in the 1st position and C in the 4th position _H__K H in the 2nd position and K in the 5th position

Try next

TOILE TALER STIRE COURE TORSE TONER
Words starting with W Words ending with K

First-turn measures

3.82 Entropy (bits)
385 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
83.7% Avg ruled out

As an opener: v5 benchmark

How WHACK 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.

3.79 Avg guesses
100.0% Win rate
0.72 Volatility
#11,262 v5 opener rank
In the complete v5 snapshot, WHACK ranks #11,262 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
46
3 guesses
747
4 guesses
1,223
5 guesses
323
6 guesses
13

Composition

5/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
A

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
66%
Green tile
27%
All gray
34%

Example solver route

R O A T E
S L I C K
A H E N T
W H A C K

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches WHACK in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

81 possible patterns. Top outcomes:

812
421
150
126
100
74
60
51
46
39
34
33
26
24
24
23
19
17
16
15
13
13
12
12
12
12
12
10
10
8

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing WHACK:

34% chance
Suggested:
TOILE
18% chance
Suggested:
TALER
6% chance
Suggested:
STIRE

Follow-ups for common patterns

Ranked follow-up guesses for the 10 most common feedback patterns.

34.4% →
TOILE 6.00 bits
17.8% →
TALER 5.52 bits
6.4% →
STIRE 5.22 bits
5.3% →
COURE 5.36 bits
4.2% →
TORSE 5.21 bits
3.1% →
TONER 4.58 bits
2.5% →
SOLER 4.88 bits
2.2% →
ROUET 4.89 bits
1.9% →
SPILE 4.82 bits
1.7% →
TUILE 3.74 bits

Letter-value totals

Base letter-value totals for WHACK; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.

Scrabble

W4H4A1C3K5
Total: 17 points

Words With Friends

Total: 17 points

Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.