Wordle Helper: Best Next Guess
Stuck on today’s Wordle? Enter the guesses you’ve played and tap each tile to match its colour. Our Wordle helper shows which answers are still possible and the best next guess: the word that narrows the list down the most.
Add your first guess, or start with one of the openers below.
How to use the Wordle helper
- Type a guess you played, such as RAISE, and press Add guess.
- Tap each tile until it matches your game: once for yellow, twice for green, and leave it grey if the letter isn’t in the word.
- Read the result. You’ll see how many answers are still possible, the best next guess and four good alternatives.
- Play the suggestion in Wordle, then press Use this guess, set its colours and repeat.
Playing in Hard mode? Tick the Hard mode box and the helper only suggests words that fit every clue you’ve found, as Hard mode requires.
How the best next guess is worked out
Most Wordle solvers just list the words that still fit. That helps, but it doesn’t tell you which one to play. This helper goes a step further:
- It checks every likely Wordle answer against your guesses using Wordle’s exact colouring rules, including repeated letters, to find the answers that are still possible.
- For each word you could play next, it works out the colours you’d see for every possible answer, and groups the answers that would give the same colours.
- Smaller groups mean you learn more. The helper ranks each guess by how many answers it leaves on average, and by how many guesses you’re likely to need to finish. A guess that could be the answer itself gets extra credit.
That’s why the suggestion is sometimes a word that can’t be the answer. When there are several possible answers left, a guess that splits them into small groups is often faster than guessing one of them and hoping.
How well does it work?
We tested the helper on 193 different Wordle answers, starting with RAISE each time and always playing its top suggestion. It solved every one, in 3.48 guesses on average, and never needed more than five:
| Solved in | Answers |
|---|---|
| 2 guesses | 7 |
| 3 guesses | 101 |
| 4 guesses | 70 |
| 5 guesses | 15 |
| 6 or more | 0 |
What is the best first guess?
We ran the same calculation for every possible opening word against all 2,120 words in our list of likely answers. The best openers are:
- RAISE: leaves about 59 possible answers on average.
- ARISE: about 61.
- AROSE: about 62.
- SNARE: about 68.
- STARE: about 69.
Popular choices also do well. SLATE leaves about 71 and CRANE about 73. Vowel-heavy ADIEU leaves about 119, so it’s a much weaker start. For more on openers, see our guide to the best Wordle starting words.
Example: solving BRAVE in four
- RAISE: R and A turn yellow, E turns green. 25 answers are still possible.
- TRACK (the helper’s top pick): now just 7 answers fit, such as BRAVE, GRAPE, GRAVE and FRAME.
- GAZED: it can’t be the answer, but it splits those seven so well that only BRAVE and FRAME are left.
- BRAVE: solved in four.
Wordle helper vs Wordle solver
Our 5 letter word finder and Wordle solver lists every word that fits your green, yellow and grey letters. It’s best when you want to see all the options or search by pattern. This Wordle helper goes one step further and tells you which word to play next. Use whichever suits you, and if you keep finding words like ?IGHT with many possible first letters, read our guide to Wordle traps.
Frequently asked questions
Is using a Wordle helper cheating?
That’s up to you. Many players use a helper only when they’re stuck, or after the game to see how they could have solved it faster. The helper never shows today’s answer. It only works from the clues you enter.
Why does it suggest a word that can’t be the answer?
Because it can teach you more. With several answers left, a word that tests the right letters can rule out almost all of them at once, so you solve sooner on average than by guessing candidates one by one.
What do the numbers mean?
“Answers left (avg)” is how many possible answers you can expect to have after playing that guess. “Guesses to finish” is an estimate of how many guesses you’ll need in total from here, counting that one. Lower is better for both.
Which words can be answers?
The helper uses the 2,120 common five-letter words in our list that are most likely to be Wordle answers. It doesn’t use or reveal the official answer list.
Does it work in Hard mode?
Yes. Tick the Hard mode box and every suggestion will use all the green and yellow letters you’ve found.