A good Wordle score is 4 or better, a 3 is great, and a 2 is mostly luck. A computer solver that checks every allowed guess solved 98.4% of our puzzles in four guesses or fewer and averaged 3.37 guesses. A simple rule a person can follow averaged 3.53, and just guessing any word that fits averaged 3.72.
So an average around 3.5 to 3.7 means you're playing well, and anything near 3.5 over a long stretch is excellent. Below are the full guess distributions, what each score says about your play, how many guesses each habit is worth, and two games where luck decided the score.
How we measured
We played all 1,895 answers in Word Guess, Poozee's free Wordle-style game, with a computer following five strategies. Every game opened with CRANE. The answer list is Poozee's own, not the New York Times list, so these numbers describe our list. Wordle's numbers will differ a little, but the patterns hold for any list of common five-letter words. Wordle is a trademark of The New York Times Company, and Poozee isn't affiliated with it.
The five strategies:
- Computer solver: checks all 8,636 allowed guesses and plays the one that splits the possible answers into the smallest groups. It only looks one guess ahead, so it isn't proven perfect, but it never lost a game.
- Computer solver, hard mode: the same search, limited to guesses hard mode allows.
- Probe, then fit: a rule a person can follow. While more than three words could still be the answer, play a familiar word (one of our 1,895 answers) that tests the most untried letters that some, but not all, of those words contain. With three or fewer left, or on your last guess, guess the word that fits with the most new letters.
- Most new letters: always guess a word that could be the answer, choosing the one with the most letters you haven't tried yet.
- Any fitting word: always guess a word that could be the answer, picked at random. We played every answer 50 times this way, 94,750 games in all.
The guess distribution
Each row shows the percentage of games solved in 1 to 6 guesses, and lost. The average (Avg.) counts wins only, like the guess distribution in the game.
| Strategy | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Lost | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer solver | 0.1 | 3.6 | 56.9 | 37.8 | 1.6 | 0 | 0 | 3.37 |
| Computer solver, hard mode | 0.1 | 5.3 | 48.9 | 39.9 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 3.47 |
| Probe, then fit | 0.1 | 3.2 | 48.6 | 40.6 | 7.1 | 0.4 | 0 | 3.53 |
| Most new letters | 0.1 | 7.3 | 42.2 | 38.2 | 9.7 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 3.56 |
| Any fitting word | 0.1 | 7.3 | 34.8 | 38.3 | 14.6 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 3.72 |
Three things stand out. Every strategy scores mostly 3s and 4s. The gap between strategies is small in the average and large in the tails: guessing any fitting word ends in 5, 6 or a loss 19.6% of the time, the solver only 1.6%. And the 1s are pure chance: with CRANE as the opener, a 1 happens only when the answer is CRANE, 1 game in 1,895.
What each score means
- 1: pure luck. You guessed the answer with no information.
- 2: lucky. The solver scored a 2 in only 3.6% of games. Guessing any fitting word scored twice as many, 7.3%, because every one of its second guesses could be the answer, while the solver's second guess could be the answer in only 8.6% of games.
- 3: great. The solver's most common score, 56.9% of its games, but even it needed four or more in 39.4%.
- 4: good. A normal, solid score for strong play. Every strategy scored a 4 in 37.8% to 40.6% of games.
- 5: below par. The solver needed five in only 1.6% of games. Random fitting words needed five in 14.6%.
- 6: a close call. Word families are a big reason. Answers from a family of four or more words that share four letters, like the _ATCH game below, are only 15% of the list, but they were 37.2% of the any-fitting-word player's 6s.
Is 4 a good Wordle score?
Yes. A 4 is the score you get when the first two guesses narrow things down but don't quite pin the answer, and that happens to every player on a big share of days:
| Strategy | Solved in 3 or fewer | Solved in 4 or fewer |
|---|---|---|
| Computer solver | 60.6% | 98.4% |
| Computer solver, hard mode | 54.2% | 94.1% |
| Probe, then fit | 51.9% | 92.5% |
| Most new letters | 49.6% | 87.8% |
| Any fitting word | 42.1% | 80.4% |
If about 9 games in 10 end in four guesses or fewer, and about half in three or fewer, you're playing at the level of the two human-style rules. A 4 only means you could do better if it's often a 5 instead.
What is a good Wordle average?
Use the averages in the table as your yardstick:
- About 3.4: computer level. The solver averaged 3.37, so the best possible average on our list is no higher than that.
- About 3.5 to 3.6: very strong play. That's where the two human-style rules landed (3.53 and 3.56).
- About 3.7: guessing any word that fits, with no plan for which one (3.72).
- 4 or more over a long stretch: room to improve. Over 30 games, the any-fitting-word player averaged 4.00 or more in only 5.9% of stretches.
Don't judge your play from a week of puzzles. We drew 10,000 random stretches of 30 games from each strategy's results. The probe rule's 30-game average landed between 3.33 and 3.73 nine times out of ten, and the any-fitting-word player's between 3.43 and 4.00. A 30-game average of 3.6 fits both players.
Finding your average in Word Guess
After each game, Word Guess shows your stats: games played, win percentage, current streak, best streak and a guess distribution with a bar for each score from 1 to 6. Daily and unlimited games keep separate stats. It doesn't show an average, but you can work it out: multiply each bar by its number of guesses, add them up and divide by your wins. With bars of 0, 3, 12, 10, 4 and 1, that's 2×3 + 3×12 + 4×10 + 5×4 + 6×1 = 108 guesses over 30 wins, an average of 3.60. Losses aren't in the bars, so they show up only in your win percentage.
What each habit is worth
Here's how much each step from "any word that fits" up to the solver is worth, in guesses per game:
| How you play | Average | Losses per 1,000 games | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any fitting word | 3.72 | 12.7 | baseline |
| Pick the fitting word with the most new letters | 3.56 | 6.3 | 0.16 |
| Also probe with a familiar word while more than three words fit | 3.53 | 0 | 0.03 |
| Let a computer check every allowed word | 3.37 | 0 | 0.16 |
Choosing well among the fitting words is worth 0.16 guesses a game: don't play the first word that fits; play the one that tests the most new letters. Probing saves only another 0.03 guesses on average, but it's what keeps you out of word-family traps. Over 1,895 games it lost none, against 12 for the new-letters rule.
Your opener and second word matter too. Keeping the probe rule and changing only the start:
| Change | Average | Losses per 1,000 games | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open with SLANT instead of CRANE | 3.52 | 0 | 0.01 better |
| Open with ADIEU | 3.74 | 0.5 | 0.21 |
| Open with AUDIO | 3.78 | 0.5 | 0.25 |
| Always play SPLIT second, after CRANE | 3.63 | 0 | 0.10 |
A vowel-heavy opener costs more than any other habit we measured, which is why our guide to Wordle starting words favors common consonants. A fixed second word costs a tenth of a guess, because it ignores what CRANE already told you. Our guide to the best second word in Wordle shows what to play instead for each of CRANE's color patterns.
Two games where luck decided the score
A typical 4: STRAY
CRANE turns up a yellow R and a yellow A, and 50 answers still fit. HOTLY can't be the answer (it has no R or A), but it tests five new letters, and its yellow T and green Y leave just two words: PARTY and STRAY. From there it's a coin flip. The rule guessed PARTY first, so this game is a 4; in the other order it's a 3. A 4 like this says nothing bad about your play: the 3 was one lucky pick away.
The _ATCH trap: WATCH
Word families are where luck matters most. Here the computer is guessing any word that fits:
CRANE finds a yellow C and a yellow A, and 23 answers fit. SAUCY could be the answer, but its colors leave six words that differ only in the first letter: BATCH, HATCH, LATCH, MATCH, PATCH and WATCH. Guessing them one at a time with four guesses left wins 2 times in 3, and this game guessed in the wrong order. Starting from CRANE's colors, a player who picks any fitting word at random still solves WATCH 76.4% of the time, so the same habit can give a 2 on a good day and a loss on a bad one.
The probe rule plays HOIST second instead. It can't be the answer, but its colors leave five words, BATCH, LATCH, MATCH, PATCH and WATCH, and the next probe, PLUMB, tests P, L, M and B at once, so each of the five gets different colors. WATCH comes in four, every time. Our hard mode tips cover the biggest families, like _IGHT and _OUND, and why they're worse when probes aren't allowed.
Hard mode and your score
Hard mode makes you keep every green and yellow letter, which rules out probe words. For the solver that cost 0.10 guesses (3.37 to 3.47) and 5 losses in 1,895 games. If you play the probe rule, hard mode takes your probes away, and the natural fallback, the most-new-letters rule, averages 3.56 and loses 6.3 games per 1,000.
But if you already guess only words that could be the answer, hard mode changes nothing: every such word is always a legal hard mode guess. Answers that repeat a letter, like SPEED, are a separate story: our guide to double letters measures how each strategy does on them.
Keep playing
- Play Word Guess, with a daily word or unlimited games, and check your own guess distribution
- Best Wordle starting words
- Wordle hard mode tips
- Wordle double letters
Frequently asked questions
What is the average Wordle score?
It depends on how you play. On the 1,895 answers in Word Guess, our Wordle-style game, a computer solver averaged 3.37 guesses, a simple rule a person can follow averaged 3.53, and guessing any word that fits averaged 3.72.
Is 4 a good Wordle score?
Yes, it's a solid, normal score. Our computer solver needed four or more guesses in 39.4% of games, and a player who guesses any word that fits finishes in four or fewer only 80.4% of the time.
Is getting Wordle in 2 just luck?
Mostly. Our computer solver scored a 2 in only 3.6% of games. Guessing any word that fits scored a 2 twice as often, 7.3% of the time, because every second guess it makes could be the answer.
How do I see my average in Word Guess?
The results card shows your guess distribution, with separate stats for daily and unlimited play, but not an average. Multiply each bar's number by its guess count, add those up, and divide by your total wins.
Does hard mode make your Wordle score worse?
Only slightly, and only if you used to play helper words. Our solver's average rose from 3.37 to 3.47 in hard mode. If you only ever guess words that could be the answer, hard mode changes nothing.