Just like our cups of kopi and matcha, Wordle has become a daily ritual. More than 4 years on from its viral debut, millions of players worldwide – including the TSL team – still open the New York Times app every morning to test their vocabulary in 6 guesses or fewer. Whether it’s to maintain the streak or compete with friends for a faster solve, the starding word makes a bigger difference than one might think.
To uphold our reputation as wordsmiths, we decided to find out which are the best words to start Wordle with. Thankfully, plenty of data scientists – who are equally addicted – have done research into the most optimised 5-letter word for us. Here are 12 of the most efficient starters for your next Wordle round.
TL;DR Start your daily Wordle rounds with SALET, and then CRONY.
World’s a simple game – all you have to do is guess the 5-letter word of the day within 6 tries. After each guess, you get a hint on how close you are – if a tile turns yellow, it means that the letter appears in the word but is at the wrong place. If the tile turns green, the letter is in the right place. A grey tile simply means that the letter doesn’t exist in the word at all.
Wordle is currently run by the New York Times and is completely free to play. All you need to do is to create a free NYT account.
The game resets every day at midnight in the UK, or at 8am in Singapore. No worries if you missed the previous day’s games – past games can be found on the Wordle archive online, also available for free.
If you want the most mathematically-optimised Wordle opener in existence, SALET is it. Mathematician Alex Selby was the first to identify it through an algorithm, and this was also independently verified by at least 14 researchers. However, SALET will never be the answer, as it’s not in the answer bank. But according to the pros, using SALET will let you guess the Wordle in an average of 3.4212 guesses, the lowest of any starting word.
Best second word: CRONY
CRATE is a double whammy, as it sits high on the algorithmic leaderboard and is also a valid Wordle answer; in fact, it was the word of the day on 3rd August 2021. The letters C, R, A, T, and E are among the most common letters found across all 5-letter English words, and CRATE uses all of them in a single guess.
Best second word: SOUND
Data analysts have also entered the chat. Researcher Daniel Kats analysed the Wordle dictionary and arrived at TRACE as the word with the lowest average guesses to solve. It also uses the same letters as CRATE, so you can switch things up every other day for options.
Best second word: LOUSY
Before CRANE, SLATE was the recommended word by the New York Times WordleBot companion. Its individual letters, S, L, A, T, and E are some of the most common letters within the answer pool.
Best second word: CRONY
CRANE was the OG “best Wordle word to start with”, on both our list and the New York Times’ WordleBot from February 2024 to July 2025. But its reign has since ended after some further analysis by mathematician Grant Sanderson.
Best second word: SPLIT
If you want a fast win, take a page out of this Reddit user’s book. According to PedanticOwl, there’s a good chance you’ll get the winning combination in just 3 tries when you start Wordle with ROAST. The combination of “roast” and “cline” gives you a chance of winning on the third guess 46.95% of the time. This is second only to the “clint” + “soare” combination.
Best second word: CLINE
Another YouTuber, MrExcel.com, who specialises in Excel and statistics, looked at 8,000 five-letter Scrabble words and ended up with AROSE. A, E, O, R, and S are the letters most commonly found in his analysis of words, and together they spell “arose.” Another option to start off is ARISE.
Best second word: UNTIL
The least expected addition to this list is LEAST. While it doesn’t have a viral YouTube video to back its merit as the best starting word for Wordle, its letters L, E, A, S, and T are some of the most frequent letters seen in the answer bank. It’s also a possible Wordle answer, and achieving that sweet 1/1 guess will always be a flex.
Best second word: ROUND
ALTER shares the same high-frequency letter cluster as TRACE and CRATE, just in a different arrangement. You could also use LATER, both of which are in the Wordle answer list.
Best second word: SONIC
AUDIO is a community favourite that we’ve seen said by many as their go-to starting word since it checks off 4 different vowels and it’s a commonly-used term. Plus, it’s included in the 2,309 possibilities of being a Wordle answer.
Best second word: STERN
No, we didn’t forget about ADIEU, but it’s not as efficient of a word as you might think. Like AUDIO, you can find out if the daily Wordle has any vowels immediately. However, it’s not that common of a word, and you should only use it if your strategy involves getting vowels and common consonants out of the way. It’s not an official Wordle word.
Best second word: SNORT
More than 7 million people watched YouTuber Grant Sanderson’s video on why Crane is the best Wordle starting word. Unfortunately, he got one tiny detail wrong and uploaded a follow-up video naming “SOARE” as the best opener instead, but only if you’re trying to guess it on the first try.
Best second word: CLINT
Think simple and common. Of the 14,855 words that you can key into Wordle, only 2,309 are possible answers as they are common words, not “aargh.” You can also try to hit common consonants like R, S, and T as it might benefit you more than vowels. While you’re at it, remember that letters can repeat, so don’t be afraid to guess “BUNNY” or “HAPPY.” The New York Times even developed WordleBot to help analyse your answers and give you advice for future Wordles.
If all else fails, you can turn to Unwordle. This website tells you the best word to guess next. It kind of goes against the spirit of Wordle, so use this only as a last resort if you can’t think of a word anymore!
Finally, if 2-word starters aren’t enough, some Wordle players also use 3-word combinations to start. Though its effectiveness is debatable, those that use it swear by it. If you wish to give it a shot, here are some popular combinations:
In case you’re wondering, offensive words are 100% out of the picture so don’t waste your guesses there. Words in plural and past tense – for example, those that end with “s”, “es” and “ed” – are excluded from Wordle’s list of possible answers. Common names, popular brands, and destinations like countries are excluded as well.
If you wish to play like a pro, search up past Wordle answers. Unlike Taylor Swift’s surprise songs, none of the answers have been repeated so that can help to narrow down the options.
Everyone I’ve spoken to has a different strategy when it comes to Wordle. Some people start with a different word every day, while others are determined to guess it in the least attempts possible. There’s no right or wrong way to play the game, but if you’re in the “minimum effort, maximum reward” camp, here’s a list that will keep your Wordle streak going.
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Originally published on 11th February 2022. Last updated by Josiah Neo on 23rd April 2026.
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