This article explains how to become one of the world’s best Wordle players by simply memorising a set of words.
Essentially, the first word in Wordle that you play with this technique will be a constant. Depending on the day, you will then receive some combination of yellow and/or green letters. By memorising the best possible second word that associates with each permutation of these yellow/green letters you will have reached Wordle nirvana. This article explains the best second words to play in Wordle depending on different scenarios as well as techniques to remember these second words.
I have previously written about the statistics of the optimal Wordle opening words here. In summary, the best opening word in Wordle depends on your goal- do you want to solve the Wordle as quickly as possible but risk a long solve? Do you want to reduce the word pool to the fewest potential remaining words? For the purposes of this article, I will use the word ‘ROATE’ as the optimal opening word. It is the best word at reducing the number of words remaining in the Wordle pool. It reduces the Wordle pool to an average of 60.4 average words remaining. It also provides the lowest average guess solution- 3.49 guesses.
After playing ‘ROATE’, you will have some combination of grey, yellow and green blocks. I have used the Wordle solver database at the appropriately named ‘not fun at parties’ website to find the optimal second word in each possible scenario that will reduce the Wordle pool as much as possible, depending on which combination of grey, yellow and green blocks you receive. To become one of the best Wordle players in the world, I believe that it is necessary to memorise the optimal second word for each combination of grey, yellow and green blocks that you may receive. This isn’t as daunting as it sounds and this article will explain my technique to simplify this memorisation process.
The Method
Each possible yellow and green block combination can be numbered in a logical order. If you memorise the optimal second words for each combination, you will play the optimal Wordle game. Further down this article is a technique that explains how to memorise these words easily.
*Scenarios 1 to 5 are simply the yellow square moving along by 1 space.*
Scenario 1.
63 possible words left.
Play SLICK
2.
66 possible words left.
Play SLINK
3.
112 possible words left.
Play SLING
4.
63 possible words left.
Play SHUNT
5.
106 possible words left.
Play SPIEL
*Scenarios 6 to 15 involve two yellow squares moving from left to right.*
6.
57 possible words left.
Play GRIND
7.
35 possible words left.
Play MARCH
8.
29 possible words left.
Play CRUST.
9.
102 possible words left.
Play SPIED
10.
33 possible words left.
Play CLOWN
11.
26 possible words left.
Play PUNCH
12.
19 possible words left.
Play DEMON.
13.
50 possible words left.
Play UNTIL
14.
55 possible words left.
Play PENAL
15.
56 possible words left.
Play SLEET
*Scenarios 16 to 25 involve three yellow squares moving from left to right*
16.
28 possible words left.
Play ARMOR
17.
21 possible words left.
Play SNOUT
18.
10 possible words left.
Play FREED
19.
12 possible words left.
Play TARDY
20.
42 possible words left.
Play GLEAM
21.
29 possible words left.
Play ENTER
22.
17 possible words left.
Play BLOAT
23.
4 possible words left.
Play OCEAN
24.
8 possible words left.
Play DETOX
25.
25 possible words left.
Play SPLAT
*There is only a single 4 yellow square scenario. There are no 5 yellow square scenarios*
26.
3 possible words left.
Play ABORT
*Now onto the scenarios featuring only green letters.*
*One single green letter for scenarios 27 to 31*.
27.
4 possible words left.
Play RUGBY
28.
71 possible words left.
Play SCOLD
29.
71 possible words left.
Play SLICK
30.
21 possible words left.
Play SLIMY
31.
83 possible words left.
Play SLING
*Scenarios 32 to 41 have two cycling green letters.*
32.
6 possible words left.
Play DUCHY
33.
No possible scenarios.
Remember BLANK
34.
1 possible word left.
Play RUSTY
35.
7 possible words left.
Play LUSTY
36.
5 possible words left.
Play LOAMY
37.
12 possible words left.
Play BUSHY
38.
22 possible words left.
Play SLUMP
39.
1 possible word left.
Play SWATH
40.
42 possible words left.
Play SLUMP
41.
10 possible words left.
Play SUSHI
*It is not worth memorising scenarios with 3 or more green blocks as the situations are essentially forced and easy to solve.*
*Scenario 42 has no green or yellow letters*.
42.
195 possible words left.
Play SLIMY
*The remaining scenarios all involve one yellow and one green letter. Situations with more yellow/green letters than this are typically easy to solve quickly and there are few options to play*.
*Situations 43 to 62 involve the one green letter starting in position 1 and the yellow letter cycling around it. The green letter then slowly moves to positions 2, 3, 4 and 5 whilst the yellow letter quickly cycles around it*
43.
3 possible words left.
Play RIGOR
44.
15 possible words left.
Play CHILD
45.
1 possible word left.
Play RIGHT
46.
21 possible words left.
Play PLIER
47.
18 possible words left.
Play DUCHY
48.
16 possible words left.
Play LUCID
49.
26 possible words left.
Play CUMIN
50.
21 possible words left.
Play VINYL
51.
51 possible words left.
Play SWING
52.
2 possible words left.
Play PIANO
53.
23 possible words left.
Play SLINK
54.
11 possible words left.
Play CHILD
55.
6 possible words left.
Play MIDGE
56.
8 possible words left.
Play CHUNK
57.
18 possible words left.
Play SPINY
58.
12 possible words left.
Play PITHY
59.
39 possible words left.
Play PRISM
60.
30 possible words left.
Play SLICK
61.
45 possible words left.
Play GUILD
62.
17 possible words left.
Play CHILD.
A Summary
To summarise what you need to memorise:
1-5 = yellow 1 space
6-15 = yellow 2 spaces
16-25 = yellow 3 spaces
26 = yellow 4 spaces
27-31 = green 1 space
32-41 = green 2 spaces
42 = all grey
43-62 = 1 green and 1 yellow with the green moving slowly from left to right and the yellow cycling around it quickly.
The summary of the list of words that you need to memorise for each number is:
1. SLICK
2. SLINK
3. SLING
4. SHUNT
5. SPIEL
6. GRIND
7. MARCH
8. CRUST
9. SPIED
10. CLOWN
11. PUNCH
12. DEMON
13. UNTIL
14. PENAL
15. SLEET
16. ARMOR
17. SNOUT
18. FREED
19. TARDY
20. GLEAM
21. ENTER
22. BLOAT
23. OCEAN
24. DETOX
25. SPLAT
26. ABORT
27. RUGBY
28. SCOLD
29. SLICK
30. SLIMY
31. SLING
32. DUCHY
33. BLANK (no possible scenarios)
34. RUSTY
35. LUSTY
36. LOAMY
37. BUSHY
38. SLUMP
39. SWATH
40. SLUMP
41. SUSHI
42. SLIMY
43. RIGOR
44. CHILD
45. RIGHT
46. PLIER
47. DUCHY
48. LUCID
49. CUMIN
50. VINYL
51. SWING
52. PIANO
53. SLINK
54. CHILD
55. MIDGE
56. CHUNK
57. SPINY
58. PITHY
59. PRISM
60. SLICK
61. GUILD
62. CHILD
Divided into groups this is:
Group A (just yellow letters)
1. SLICK
2. SLINK
3. SLING
4. SHUNT
5. SPIEL
6. GRIND
7. MARCH
8. CRUST
9. SPIED
10. CLOWN
11. PUNCH
12. DEMON
13. UNTIL
14. PENAL
15. SLEET
16. ARMOR
17. SNOUT
18. FREED
19. TARDY
20. GLEAM
21. ENTER
22. BLOAT
23. OCEAN
24. DETOX
25. SPLAT
26. ABORT
Group B (just green letters)
1. RUGBY
2. SCOLD
3. SLICK
4. SLIMY
5. SLING
6. DUCHY
7. BLANK (no possible scenarios)
8. RUSTY
9. LUSTY
10. LOAMY
11. BUSHY
12. SLUMP
13. SWATH
14. SLUMP
15. SUSHI
Group C (1 green letter and 1 yellow letter)
1. RIGOR
2. CHILD
3. RIGHT
4. PLIER
5. DUCHY
6. LUCID
7. CUMIN
8. VINYL
9. SWING
10. PIANO
11. SLINK
12. CHILD
13. MIDGE
14. CHUNK
15. SPINY
16. PITHY
17. PRISM
18. SLICK
19. GUILD
20. CHILD
Plus all grey letters= SLIMY
How To Memorise This List
There are two key manners in which to view this list.
1. One method involves breaking the list into three groups. Group A contains the numbers 1-26 which denote just yellow letters. Group B contains the numbers 1-15 which denotes just green letters. Group C contains the numbers 1-20 which denotes 1 green and 1 yellow letter. There is also the additional all grey letters scenario.
2. The second method involves keeping the list as it is and memorising the list in its entirety.
The best method to memorise the list is to create a memory palace. In scenario 1, you will think of three separate memory palaces. In scenario 2, you will just use a single memory palace. A memory palace is a building, location or journey that is familiar to you. This may be your house, a friend’s house, your journey to a location such as where you work or a trip to a holiday destination. If you wish to use a house, break the house down into rooms or segments of rooms. Location 1 may be at your doorstep, location 2 may be inside your hall, location 3 may be in front of the door to your bedroom, location 4 may be on your bed. The important thing to be aware of is that each location should follow a path that you can easily recall the order of.
If this was the start of your memory palace, you may have
1. Doorstep
2. Hall
3. Bedroom door
4. Your bed.
The first four items on the list are:
1. SLICK
2. SLINK
3. SLING
4. SHUNT
To remember these items, you may picture a person with SLICK hair knocking on your door. You may then imagine a SLINKy sliding down the hall. A SLING shot is leaning on your bedroom door and you may imagine yourself pushing a train on your bed (SHUNT). It is important to make your story as vivid and graphic as possible, with the words interacting with where they are located
I recommend memorising option number 1 in that you use three separate memory palaces to memorise the items on the list. This makes it easy to recall and breaks the items into the three distinct categories of just yellow letters, just green letters and one green and one yellow letter.
Guessing Third Words
Once you have memorised the words in the lists, practice as much as you can at playing the first two rounds of Wordle. You can play an unlimited amount of Wordle here: https://hellowordl.net/.
You are now employing the optimal strategy of playing the best (or close to it) first word followed by the best second word depending on which letters turn yellow and green. In the vast majority of scenarios there will only be a handful of possible words remaining that can be the mystery word. For your third turn you must now go through each possible permutation of letters that fit and write these down on a piece of paper. Depending on what words are left, the optimal Wordle strategy now divides into two distinct paths:
1. It is worth trying to guess the mystery word on your third guess. In this scenario, there may be e.g. four potential words left that can be the mystery word. In some cases it doesn’t matter which word you guess (I generally recommend picking the most common word as the creator of Wordle chose well-known words for the mystery word list). In some cases it does matter which word you pick as one of the four words may have enough letters in common with the other three words on the list to force a win on your fourth turn.
2. It is not worth trying to guess the mystery word on your third guess. In this scenario, there may be e.g. eight potential words left that can be the mystery word. You want to guess a word that isn’t necessarily one of these eight words that will be able to eliminate as many of these eight words as possible based on shared letters.
After each game of Wordle, check this website to see if you missed brainstorming any words that may have fit.
Conclusion
The above tactics are what I believe to be the best strategy in Wordle. Once you have created three memory palaces, placing the words into them and memorising the numbers of the words should be relatively simple. The initial word doesn’t need to be ROATE. By using this link you can change the initial word to any other word e.g. SOARE or RAISE. I have written about the statistics of opening Wordle words in more detail as well as additional Wordle tips here: https://puzzleaday.wordpress.com/2022/01/31/the-optimal-wordle-strategy/ There is also scope for further memorisations for more likely scenarios e.g. having all grey letters for the first two turns or memorising the 30 scenarios with 1 green letter and 2 yellow letters.
Does all of this memorisation and strategy take away the fun from what is essentially a basic game? Perhaps. If you want to be an expert Wordle player and wear what is akin to a skinsuit for a casual day with the family ice skating then use the techniques in this article and you will be victorious at Wordle versus your friends, family and co-workers.
Puzzle a Day 