WHISK
Yes, WHISK was the Wordle answer on September 12, 2023 (Wordle #815).
As an opener, it rules out about 84.4% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈwɪsk//ˈʍɪsk/[ˈw̥ɪsk]
- Noun
-
A quick, light sweeping motion.
“With a quick whisk, she swept the cat from the pantry with her broom.”
- Noun
-
A kitchen utensil, now usually made from stiff wire loops fixed to a handle (and formerly of twigs), used for whipping (or a mechanical device with the same function).
“He used a whisk to whip up a light and airy souffle.”
- Verb
-
To move something with quick light sweeping motions.
“Vernon whisked the sawdust from his workbench.”
- Verb
-
In cooking, to whip e.g. eggs or cream.
“The chef prepared to whisk the egg whites for the angel's food cake.”
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 12, 2023 (#815).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 12, 2023 (#815).
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 WHISK performs as a guess
WHISK 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 64.9% of games, misses completely in 35.1%, and leaves about 371 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #9,738 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.76 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 WHISK 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 WHISK 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 WHISK in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
WHISK can come back 80 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 WHISK; 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 WHISK
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to WHISK.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing WHISK:
Research on WHISK
Game-tree analysis and word research for WHISK, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with WHISK, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.80 guesses and ranks #10,952 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.93 guesses at best and is rank #4,886 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.76, at or below the proven-optimal 3.80, 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, WHISK is a kind of mixer or broom.
Synonyms whip
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- WHISK 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 (3.3 of 5).
In a sentence
Beat the eggs with a whisk.
Watch our new detergent whisk away stains.
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).