The answer to Wordle #1,290 was

STARE: To look fixedly (at something).

Source: Wiktionary contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected and lightly formatted from Wiktionary; long entries may be shortened.

Word difficulty: Easy

Why it may be easier: five different letters, at least two vowels and none of Q, Z, X, J, K, V or W.

Compare past puzzle difficulty →

How difficult was it for the solver?

In a replay of past puzzles, Wordle #1,290 scores 32/100 for solver difficulty (easier for the solver).

7 Possible answers after CRANE
4 Possible answers after SLATE
190 Possible answers after ADIEU
6 Words in the STA_E family
3 Guesses in the solver replay

This compares past puzzles under the same solver settings; it does not measure how players performed. Compare more puzzles →

Wordle #1,290, measured

This section compares STARE's solver-difficulty percentile, first-guess results for ten familiar openers, and opt-in player reports. Each number identifies its dataset.

Solver difficulty, as a percentile

32/100

This score is a percentile, not an opinion. Under the site's fixed solver settings, STARE measured harder for the solver than about 32% of all 1,907 recorded answers to date. Its rating is easier for the solver. CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU leave about 67 possible answers; it sits in a 6-word STA_E family.

Solver pressure ranks the answer within the pool; it does not measure player performance. The opener table compares first-guess results, and the contributed ratings report player results.

CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU benchmark

STARE was the answer itself, so the fairest comparison starts with TARSE: its feedback left 1 of the 2,374 words in the site's working answer pool. At the other end, AUDIO left 442 candidates, about 442 times as many. The vowel-heavy probes ADIEU and AUDIO revealed comparatively little here. Vowel coverage helps only when the answer's vowels are still in doubt.

First-guess feedback each opener would have received against STARE, and how many answer-pool words would still match it
OpenerFirst-guess feedbackAnswers still possible
STARE STARE 1 the answer itself
TARSE TARSE 1
TRACE TRACE 1
SLATE SLATE 4
ARISE ARISE 5
RAISE RAISE 5
CRANE CRANE 7
SALET SALET 10
ADIEU ADIEU 190
AUDIO AUDIO 442

“Answers still possible” counts the words in the site's 2,374-word working answer pool whose feedback would match that opener exactly. This is pattern arithmetic, not a simulation. A smaller number means the opener left fewer possible answers after the first guess. It does not describe later turns.

Contributed player ratings

Not enough contributed games to publish player figures for this puzzle. Per-puzzle numbers appear only after at least 10 opt-in games arrive. See how the Observatory collects and publishes player data →

What did you get?

Tap your result to compare it with contributed games. Your choice stays in this browser and is not sent anywhere.

1 Suppressed
2 Suppressed
3 Suppressed
4 Suppressed
5 Suppressed
6 Suppressed
X Suppressed

The bars pool all 26 contributed games across every completed puzzle. The Observatory does not publish per-puzzle guess distributions below its sample threshold, so this is the broadest available comparison. “Suppressed” marks a low-count cell.

Solver replay

One route our solver takes from its usual opening word to STARE.

The solver reaches the answer in 3 guesses.

Common questions

What was the Wordle answer for December 30, 2024?
The Wordle answer for December 30, 2024 (puzzle #1290) was STARE.
What does STARE mean?
STARE: To look fixedly (at something).
Why was Wordle #1290 tricky?
STARE is rated easy for estimated word difficulty. Why it may be easier: five different letters, at least two vowels and none of Q, Z, X, J, K, V or W.

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