5 FiveLetterWords
Past Wordle answer Possible answer Accepted guess F tier for first-turn info

WORRY

Yes, WORRY was the Wordle answer on January 27, 2023 (Wordle #587).

As an opener, it rules out about 85.4% of possible answers.

Open Solver with WORRY Open Word Finder

Meaning and pronunciation

Pronunciation: /ˈwʌ.ɹi/[ˈwʌɹɪj]/ˈwɝ.i/

Verb

To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt.

Verb

Disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress; to exercise.

“Your tone of voice worries me.”

Noun

A strong feeling of anxiety.

“I'm afflicted by worry throughout the night.”

Noun

An instance or cause of such a feeling.

“My main worry is that I'll miss the train.”

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 27, 2023 (#587).

See the full page for that puzzle: January 27, 2023 (#587).

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

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How verification and withdrawal work

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How WORRY performs as a guess

WORRY 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 67.2% of games, misses completely in 32.8%, and leaves about 348 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #12,200 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.

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

Useful pattern pages

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

W___Y W in the 1st position and Y in the 5th position W__R_ W in the 1st position and R in the 4th position _O__Y O in the 2nd position and Y in the 5th position

Explore lists that match the beginning, ending or letters in WORRY.

First-turn measures

All four describe WORRY 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.

3.88 Entropy (bits)
348 Avg remaining
0.04% Exact match
85.4% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 17% of evaluated openers
2.07 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How WORRY 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.

3.82 Avg guesses
99.87% Solved within six
0.73 Spread of game lengths
#12,200 Rank among openers
Opening with WORRY left 3 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.73 means those games clustered within about 0.73 of a guess of the 3.82 average. It ranks #12,200 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
1
2 guesses
39
3 guesses
730
4 guesses
1,224
5 guesses
335
6 guesses
22
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

4/5 unique
1 vowels
Common:
OR

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
67%
Green tile
36%
All gray
33%

Example solver route

R O A T E
D U C H Y
A G L O W
W O R R Y

One example route used by the solver.

This solver benchmark reaches WORRY in 4 guesses.

Feedback distribution

WORRY can come back 79 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

779 answers
306 answers
203 answers
201 answers
126 answers
86 answers
71 answers
65 answers
48 answers
38 answers
34 answers
31 answers
29 answers
24 answers
23 answers
22 answers
20 answers
17 answers
15 answers
15 answers
13 answers
13 answers
12 answers
11 answers
11 answers
10 answers
9 answers
8 answers
8 answers
6 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

W4O1R1R1Y4
Total: 11 points

Words With Friends

Total: 10 points

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

Try next

SLANE SAICE SLATE SAULT CLINE PRATE

Strategy after playing WORRY

What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to WORRY.

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing WORRY:

33% chance
Suggested:
SLANE
13% chance
Suggested:
SAICE
9% chance
Suggested:
SLATE

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

32.8% →
SLANE 6.32 bits
12.9% →
SAICE 5.19 bits
8.6% →
SLATE 5.19 bits
8.5% →
SAULT 4.76 bits
5.3% →
CLINE 4.75 bits
3.6% →
PRATE 3.94 bits
3.0% →
SAICE 5.01 bits
2.7% →
SPATE 4.95 bits
2.0% →
STOLE 3.60 bits
1.6% →
SAINT 4.63 bits

Research on WORRY

Game-tree analysis and word research for WORRY, with an explanation for each figure.

Optimal play

Opening with WORRY, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.85 guesses and ranks #12,659 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 WORRY can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.82, at or below the proven-optimal 3.85, 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.

How it sounds

Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it WUREE.

Rhymes with HURRY FURRY BURRY MURRY GURRY

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, WORRY is a kind of input or anxiety.

Synonyms care interest trouble concern headache occupy

Opposites reassure

Familiarity and learning

Frequency
WORRY sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 69 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
Learner level
Appears in beginner learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level A1); among the first words English learners study.
Age of acquisition
Typically learned around age 5, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
Imageability
Imageability score: 44 of 100. Raters gave it a middle-range score.
Dominant sense
Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with internal bodily sensation (4.1 of 5).

In a sentence

You don't have to worry.
© tatoeba.org contributor CK (CC BY 2.0 FR)
I do worry about it.
© tatoeba.org contributor CK (CC BY 2.0 FR)

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); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).