The best second word in Wordle depends on the colors your first word turned up. After CRANE, play a word that tests new letters unless only a few words still fit, even when CRANE found a green: SPILT after a yellow A or E, SHOUT after a yellow R, TULIP after a yellow C, and SOLID or SPLIT after all gray. Picking the best common word for CRANE's colors averaged 3.45 guesses over all 1,895 answers in our tests, against 3.63 for always playing SPLIT.
Below: the best second word for CRANE's 12 most common color patterns, when a word that fits the clues is worth playing, and what each second-guess habit is worth over a whole game.
How we measured
We had a computer play every one of the 1,895 answers in Word Guess, Poozee's free Wordle-style game, always opening with CRANE. The answer list is Poozee's own, not the New York Times list, so Wordle's exact numbers will differ a little. Wordle is a trademark of The New York Times Company, and Poozee isn't affiliated with it.
Only the second guess changes from one test to the next. From the third guess on, every game follows the same rule a person can use, the probe rule from our guide to Wordle scores: while more than three words fit, play a common word that tests the most untried letters that some, but not all, of those words contain; then guess the fitting word with the most new letters.
To rate a single second guess, we used two yardsticks:
- Words left: how many words could still be the answer after it, on average. This is the measure the computer solver uses to pick its guesses.
- Solved by guess 3: the chance to finish by your third guess if that guess is any word that fits. That's the number of different color results the second guess can show, divided by the number of words that fit, because each result leaves a group of words and a fitting guess hits one of them.
The best second word for each CRANE pattern
CRANE can light up 139 different color patterns on our answers, and 33 of them point to a single word. The 12 most common patterns cover 49.2% of all games. For each one, here's the best common word (one of our 1,895 answers) for the second guess. "Fit" is how many words could be the answer after CRANE, "Left" how many still could after the best word, on average, and "By guess 3" the chance to solve by your third guess:
| Colors | Games | Fit | Best word | Left | By guess 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| all gray | 10.4% | 197 | SOLID | 5.9 | 30% |
| yellow A | 5.7% | 108 | SPILT | 4.5 | 42% |
| yellow E | 5.5% | 104 | SPILT | 3.4 | 49% |
| yellow R and E | 5.2% | 99 | VISOR | 9.8 | 24% |
| green E | 4.2% | 80 | LOTUS | 3.3 | 44% |
| yellow R | 3.7% | 70 | SHOUT | 2.5 | 63% |
| yellow R and A | 2.6% | 50 | PILOT | 3.4 | 50% |
| green N | 2.6% | 49 | GUSTO | 2.6 | 55% |
| yellow N | 2.4% | 46 | SNOUT | 2.3 | 61% |
| yellow R, A and E | 2.3% | 44 | SALTY | 3.9 | 43% |
| yellow N and E | 2.3% | 43 | VOMIT | 2.8 | 58% |
| yellow C | 2.3% | 43 | TULIP | 1.9 | 70% |
Notice how few of these words can be the answer. Only SOLID (after all gray) and SNOUT (after a yellow N) fit the colors. Every word in the table tests at least four letters CRANE didn't, mostly T, S, O, I, L and U, and that's what makes them strong.
The computer's own favorites, chosen from all 8,636 allowed guesses, are often words few players know: SMOLT after all gray, TOILS after a yellow A, YETIS after a yellow R and E. Of the 89 patterns that leave three or more words, the computer's best second guess can't be the answer in 69, and those patterns are 91.4% of all games.
Pro tip: The hardest pattern is a yellow R and E: 99 words fit, and 64 of them end in -ER. No second word leaves fewer than about 9 of them. Our hard mode tips explain why -ER words cause so many losses.
New letters or a word that fits?
The big question after CRANE is whether to guess a word that could be the answer or a word that only tests letters. We played every game both ways: a second guess of new letters (the probe rule above), or the fitting word with the most new letters. Grouped by how many of CRANE's tiles came back green or yellow, here's the average number of guesses to win:
| Green and yellow tiles | Games | Words that fit, on average | New letters | Fitting word |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 10.4% | 197.0 | 3.93 | 3.93 |
| 1 | 31.6% | 72.6 | 3.61 | 3.69 |
| 2 | 39.7% | 35.6 | 3.54 | 3.63 |
| 3 | 16.1% | 13.7 | 3.23 | 3.24 |
| 4 | 2.2% | 2.1 | 2.49 | 2.49 |
With no colors at all, both rules play the same word (LOTUS fits), so they tie. With one or two colored tiles, which is 71.3% of games, new letters win by about 0.08 to 0.09 guesses a game. At three colors it's a coin flip, and with four they come out even: only about two words are left, so in almost every game both rules simply guess them. (The last 0.1% of games are CRANE itself.)
Greens don't change the answer. With one green tile, new letters averaged 3.40 guesses against 3.50 for a fitting word, and with two greens 3.17 against 3.31. A green feels like progress you should build on, but the letters around it are still unknown, and a word of new letters finds them faster.
So the practical rule is simple:
- Count the words that could still be the answer. You don't need an exact number, only whether it's more than three.
- If more than three fit, play a common word that tests as many new letters as you can. Choose letters that some of the possible words have and others don't, like the T, S, O, I, L and U in the table above.
- If three or fewer fit, guess one of them, the one with the most letters you haven't tried yet.
A fitting second guess has one upside: it can be the answer. The fitting-word rule scored a 2 in 138 games, the new-letters rule in only 61. But it paid for those 2s with far more 4s and 5s.
What each second-guess habit is worth
Here are whole games with each way of choosing the second guess, over all 1,895 answers. Every game opens with CRANE, and every guess after the second follows the same probe rule. The second row uses the best common word for every one of the 139 patterns, a full version of the table above. "5 or more" counts losses too.
| Second guess | Average | Solved in 3 or fewer | 5 or more |
|---|---|---|---|
| The computer's pick from all 8,636 words | 3.43 | 59.3% | 5.6% |
| The best common word for CRANE's colors | 3.45 | 56.8% | 5.7% |
| The table above for its 12 patterns, new letters otherwise | 3.50 | 53.0% | 6.3% |
| New letters while more than three words fit | 3.53 | 51.9% | 7.5% |
| The best fitting word, picked by computer | 3.54 | 47.7% | 8.2% |
| The fitting word with the most new letters | 3.59 | 44.1% | 9.7% |
| Always SPILT | 3.61 | 45.8% | 8.1% |
| Always SPLIT | 3.63 | 44.2% | 8.1% |
Three things stand out:
- Choosing for the colors beats a fixed word. Always playing SPLIT costs 0.18 guesses a game against the best common word for CRANE's colors. Even if a computer plays every guess after the second, a fixed SPLIT averaged 3.53 against the solver's 3.37.
- Even the best fitting word doesn't beat new letters. The computer's best fitting second guess (3.54) did no better than the simple new-letters rule (3.53).
- Memorizing the table pays a little. Using the 12 rows above and the new-letters rule everywhere else averaged 3.50, 0.03 better than the rule alone.
No habit lost more than one game in 1,895, and the few losses were all -ER words: ROVER, RARER and PIPER.
A fixed word fails because it ignores CRANE's colors. After two guesses, picking the computer's best word for each pattern leaves 2.81 words on average. Picking the best common word leaves 3.07 and a fitting one 3.56, but SPLIT leaves 4.22. TOILS is the fixed second word that leaves the fewest, 3.67, and always playing it still averaged 3.63 guesses. Our guide to Wordle starting words has more on choosing the first word.
Worked example: a green N
Say the answer is GOING. CRANE turns up one green, the N, and 49 words still fit, from BLIND to YOUNG. Guessing the fitting word with the most new letters plays SUING:
SUING has the right shape, but its colors leave nine words, and the game needs five guesses. The new-letters rule plays GUSTO instead, a word that can't be the answer:
That's not just luck on one word. Against the 49 words that fit CRANE's green N, SUING leaves 5.3 words on average and solves 31% by guess 3, while GUSTO leaves 2.6 and solves 55%. Over all 49 games, a fitting second guess averaged 4.02 guesses, SPLIT 3.76, and the new-letters rule 3.55.
When CRANE comes back all gray
All gray is the most common pattern, 10.4% of games, and the two yardsticks disagree on it. SOLID leaves the fewest words, 5.9 on average, but solves only 29.9% by guess 3. SPLIT leaves 6.2 and solves 35.0%, and HOIST solves the most of any common word, 37.6%, while leaving 6.4.
In whole games, played on with the probe rule, SPLIT finished the 197 all-gray answers in 3.83 guesses on average, a little faster than SOLID (3.88), LOTUS (3.93) or even the computer's pick, SMOLT (3.84). So after all gray, SPLIT is a fine second word. That fits the advice in our starting-words guide: play a fixed second word only when the first one comes back mostly gray. After any color, pick your second word for those colors instead.
Hard mode
Hard mode makes every later guess reuse CRANE's green and yellow letters, so after any color the new-letters words above aren't allowed: GUSTO after a green N, for example, drops the N. All gray is the exception, since there's nothing to keep, and SOLID or SPLIT work there too. For the rest, our hard mode tips show how to choose among the fitting words.
Keep playing
- Play Word Guess and try these second words on the daily puzzle or in unlimited games
- Best Wordle starting words
- What is a good Wordle score?
- Wordle double letters
Frequently asked questions
What is the best second word after CRANE in Wordle?
It depends on CRANE's colors. In our tests SPILT was the best common word after a yellow A or a yellow E, SHOUT after a yellow R, TULIP after a yellow C, and SOLID or SPLIT after all gray.
Should my second Wordle guess fit the clues?
Usually not, in normal mode. A second guess of new letters averaged 3.53 guesses, against 3.59 for the fitting word with the most new letters. A fitting second guess wins more 2s, but needs a 4 or worse more often.
Is SPLIT a good second word after CRANE?
After all gray, yes: it finished those games fastest of the words we compared. After other colors it wastes clues. After a yellow R, SPLIT leaves 6.1 possible answers on average, SHOUT only 2.5.
What second word should I play in hard mode?
Hard mode makes every later guess reuse CRANE's green and yellow letters, so after any color the new-letters words in this guide aren't allowed. After all gray, nothing is forced, and SOLID or SPLIT are fine second guesses.