Opening Pair Atlas
Score a two-word opening routine
A pair can cover ten letters and still group answers badly. Test any ordered pair for joint information, average and worst-case shortlist size, overlap, and how often word two is actually legal in Hard Mode.
Pair calculator
Enter two accepted guesses
Order does not change joint information, but it does change whether the second word follows Hard Mode clues.
Calculated against the live pool
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- Joint information
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- Avg answers left
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- Worst case
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- Distinct outcomes
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Bounded benchmark
Selected opening pairs
Ranked by average answers left, then worst case and joint information. This is an editorial comparison set, not all 110 million possible unordered pairs.
| # | Pair | Letters | Information | Avg left | Worst | Hard legal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 9.475 bits | 5.20 | 28 | 11.5% | |
| 2 | 10 | 9.415 bits | 5.22 | 25 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | 10 | 9.403 bits | 5.27 | 23 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | 10 | 9.405 bits | 5.28 | 25 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | 10 | 9.375 bits | 5.36 | 28 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | 10 | 9.374 bits | 5.52 | 25 | 9.7% | |
| 7 | 10 | 9.324 bits | 5.71 | 28 | 7.3% | |
| 8 | 10 | 9.342 bits | 5.94 | 34 | 10.7% | |
| 9 | 10 | 9.336 bits | 5.96 | 34 | 10.7% | |
| 10 | 10 | 9.236 bits | 6.24 | 28 | 9.6% | |
| 11 | 10 | 9.184 bits | 6.57 | 33 | 8.5% | |
| 12 | 10 | 9.254 bits | 6.59 | 43 | 10.7% | |
| 13 | 10 | 9.176 bits | 6.79 | 29 | 9.9% | |
| 14 | 10 | 9.242 bits | 7.01 | 42 | 11.5% | |
| 15 | 10 | 9.149 bits | 7.23 | 44 | 9.9% | |
| 16 | 10 | 9.089 bits | 7.31 | 36 | 7.0% | |
| 17 | 10 | 9.064 bits | 7.44 | 33 | 10.7% | |
| 18 | 10 | 9.056 bits | 7.47 | 33 | 10.7% | |
| 19 | 10 | 9.043 bits | 7.51 | 32 | 7.3% | |
| 20 | 10 | 9.003 bits | 8.44 | 43 | 8.3% | |
| 21 | 10 | 8.783 bits | 8.69 | 42 | 7.0% | |
| 22 | 10 | 8.936 bits | 8.75 | 46 | 8.3% |
What is being measured
A fixed pair, not an adaptive strategy
Both words are forced across all 2,384 equally weighted working answers, using the site’s 14,855-word captured accepted-guess list. Feedback signatures from both rows define each final shortlist.
A strong adaptive player changes word two after seeing row one. Use a second-guess playbook for that approach. The fixed-pair score instead answers whether a memorized routine is informative even when the first row points elsewhere.
“Hard legal” is the percentage of unsolved answers for which the second word reuses every green and yellow revealed by the first. It is order-sensitive. Read the data notes →