The answer to Wordle #1,402 was

SPATE: A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.

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

Word difficulty: Tricky

Why it may be difficult: uncommon in general English.

Compare past puzzle difficulty →

How difficult was it for the solver?

In a replay of past puzzles, Wordle #1,402 scores 33/100 for solver difficulty (easier for the solver).

45 Possible answers after CRANE
3 Possible answers after SLATE
190 Possible answers after ADIEU
4 Words in the SPA_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 #1,402, measured

This section compares SPATE'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

33/100

This score is a percentile, not an opinion. Under the site's fixed solver settings, SPATE measured harder for the solver than about 33% of all 1,906 recorded answers to date. Its rating is easier for the solver. CRANE, SLATE and ADIEU leave about 79.3 possible answers; it has a 4-word SPA_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

SLATE left the fewest candidates: its first-guess feedback left 3 of the 2,374 words in the site's working answer pool. At the other end, AUDIO left 442 candidates, about 147 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 SPATE, and how many answer-pool words would still match it
OpenerFirst-guess feedbackAnswers still possible
SLATE SLATE 3
STARE STARE 3
TARSE TARSE 8
SALET SALET 10
TRACE TRACE 13
RAISE RAISE 21
ARISE ARISE 30
CRANE CRANE 45
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 SPATE.

The solver reaches the answer in 3 guesses.

Common questions

What was the Wordle answer for April 21, 2025?
The Wordle answer for April 21, 2025 (puzzle #1402) was SPATE.
What does SPATE mean?
SPATE: A (sudden) flood or inundation of water; specifically, a flood in or overflow of a river or other watercourse due to heavy rain or melting snow; (uncountable, archaic) flooding, inundation.
Why was Wordle #1402 tricky?
SPATE is rated tricky for estimated word difficulty. Why it may be difficult: uncommon in general English.

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