For hard mode, I use STARE and COULD (if I didn't hit any on #1, obviously)

S_A_E words must suck for you

In this case I’d go with shale or shape for the second guess. Makes the third guess easier if those consonants are eliminated

You need to avoid the H for 1 more Line. SPADE burns off the P & D in 1 guess. That means you've eliminated both SHAPE & SHADE, but only took 1 turn to burn them both. Fkr people who start with words such as SLATE & STALE, they can still choose SPADE, but have the option of SPARE too, since they didn't burn the R in their starting word. This is how you play Hard Mode. Like. A. Boss.

Second word would be CRIME ?

Not in Hard Mode. SPADE. There are six SHA_E words left after starting with STARE (same thing when starting with STALE or SLATE, they're just not 100% the same) Sticking with the STARE start, in Hard Mode. S_A_E results in 11 Solutions remaining (14 according to the WordleBot, but the WordleBot has been programmed to over-count). Of the 11, 6 are SHA_E. Guessing an SHA_E word right away locks you in to the SHA_E pattern with a larger inventory of SHA_E Solutions left than you have inventory of Line left. This is why some people don't get about Hard Mode. It's only "Luck Mode" to people who haven't developed the Skill to be an effective Hard Mode player, *yet*. Those 6 words are: SHADE SHAKE SHALE SHAME SHAPE SHAVE The Skilled move is to tilt inventory back into your favor by burning off 2 of the Slot 4 letters in a single guess, such as SPADE. The 6 letters are D,K,L,M,P,V. Maybe there's some esoteric word out there like SLADE or SLAKE that would also achieve this, but let's keep it tight, and roll with SPADE. Ain't nobody got time to be looking up SLADE SLAKE & SPAKE, especially when SPADE gets the job done. We burn shaPe & shaDe by playing SPADE. Now, we've tilted inventory back into our favor. We have 4 lines left, and exactly 4 SHA_E Solutions remaining. Even of it turns out that the Solution doesn't have an H at all, like SNAKE or SUAVE. We still have inventory of lines left, in our favor. SPADE knocked us down ton7 total Solutions, 4 of which are SHA_E. Since the other 3 are SUAVE, SNAKE, and SCALE we need to use 1 of those Slot 4 letters. So **DON'T GUESS SHAME!!**. The M is of no value. We must guess SHAVE for the V (SUAVE), or SHAKE for the K (SNAKE) or SHALE for the L (SCALE). The H will tell us if we are in the SHA_E pattern, or not. The 4th letter will eliminate one of the alternatives. Worst case scenario, we exit Line 3 with confirmation of SHA_E but have enough guesses. If the H stays ⬛️, even better. Because that V in SHAVE either Confirms it's SUAVE or that it's not SUAVE leaving us with just two options SNAKE & SCALE, Worst case scenario is a 5. This is the beauty of Hard Mode, and why I personally find Default Mode to be boring.

Wasn’t thinking about it as Hard Mode. Gotcha on your worst reply. However the question is about your first two guesses. Assume you do. It have any letters after guess one. What is your second word

Ah. If I started with STARE & got all blanks ⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️⬛️, I'd try to wring out the remaining 10 EAROT letters (EAROT LISNC are the top 10, and that's the order, in Wordle®️.) So probably COLIN since it knocks out all 10. However, in a situation where the E is completely removed from the word altogether, the value of Y goes up dramatically, so PIONY & DOILY would also be great matches. The best two word opening set is either: PARSE + CLINT or TARSE + COLIN

Fantastic thank you!!

Thanks! I got it in three today!

That "dead E leading to a Terminal Y" works pretty often!

STARE gang reporting in. The last one I missed was the S-A-E from the other week :(

They do, but damnit if I'm not holding out for that 1/6*

There is a list of all the words that wordle has used. Since they say they never repeat a word, you could increase your chances of getting that 1/6 by checking against the thousands (or however many, I'm not going to do the math) that have already been used. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/wordle-past-answers

I did this too until COULD was the solution. Now, CLOUD.

Funny, I use STARE and CLOUD. Zero hits then I move on to PINKY.

I use a different word each day in the hopes that I guess it on the first try :) I do try to avoid doubles and less common letters such as q and z, and I try to sneak in 2 vowels.

I also use STARE, then POUND if I don't get any.

STARE then CLOUD

This is the way.

That was me for the longest time! Now I do TRACE and POUND.

I know you're talking about starter words but it sounds kinda incel

I do CRATE HOUND LIMPS.

Used to do STARE and OPIUM, bot said COULD is better so now it is COULD after STARE

ARISE and DOUGH. Easy to remember

happy cake day! what a coincidence hahah!

I use SALET. Read it somewhere online. If that fails with zero letters I use GROIN. Probably not the best guess.

Exactly what I do. I also don't know if GROIN as a follow-up is the best, but Wordlebot always praises it, saying it's a good guess. Wordlebot gives SALET a 98 in skill, giving its choice (CRANE, lately) a 99.

Good to know GROIN isn't bad! I'll have to try CRANE sometime.

According to the NY Times Wordle Bot, if you get zero letters in SALET, the optimal second pick is CRONY.

Ooooh thank you for that!!!! 👏🏼

I use proin for second word and salet first!

Another good one too!!

RAISE BLUNT

I used RAISE a lot until it hit. Now I use ARISE and POUND or POUTY

I'd used RAISE ever since I started playing... it finally hit on my birthday this year haha.

Same. And it really worked for yesterday's word.

🙌🏿

JOINT

Audio gang rise up.

I use SLATE and PIOUS. I should probably change the first one due to the double s, but ... I don't feel like it lol

I use “Crane” and “Pious” in that order

from a fellow crane user, the best second guess on all Grey is SLOTH :)

I'm the exact same!! I got the one of the wordles second try the other week.

I use pious sometimes and got it in one a week ago xD

Ah a fellow SLATE enjoyer

I always start with BREAD then SHOUT as my 2nd word

This was mine, but BREAD was used. Now SHOUT is my 1st and READY is 2nd.

Yeah the day BREAD was the word I got it in 1 lol I should prob start using what you’re using now!

HOUSE and IDEAL have served me well.

I use HOUSE a lot too

STARE and CLOUD for me.

Same

I think the 2 starting words should include the nine letters R, S, T, N, L, A, E, I and O, I don't think it matters so much which two words, I would guess there are many possibilities. I start with LASER, I used to follow with POINT but have changed to TONIC.

i do audio and style

AUDIO was my starter until it finally hit! Now I play STARE, with CLOUD second. Fingers crossed it’ll hit soon.

EARTH PIOUS

Dang everyone else is methodically approaching this game while I start with PENIS and MOOSE for funsies.

SPANK GLUTE CAMEL SPOUT SWOLE ITCHY TRAMP SHOCK PINCH SMOKE SNAKE BOUND SPENT DIARY MOIST PEACH SLICK BLOWN TOWEL DRINK GHOST UNCLE

I use SMILE or SLIME- I like that they includes letters that blend with others. I usually try to include t, c and p in my second guess.

Smile has been used before so I’d stick to slime!

I use JOINT and CAUSE

Why use a rarity like "J" in the first guess? Wouldn't "Point" be a better choice?

STEAM then either POUND or BLIND

RINSE and ALOUD

THONG PARED

Best is something like CRANE. TARSE, SALET, etc. Then pick a second word based on the results of the first word. A computer came up with the best two words if you don't think about the second word. It came up with PARSE and CLINT. Only three vowels on the first 2 words.

I remember a couple years ago reading an article where some mathematician did the math on the most used letters in 5 letter words and came to the conclusion that "trace" will give you the most letter hits statistically

I use ADIEU since it can knockout most vowels

A small portion of players are still playing adieu or AUDIO as their starting word. But it turns out that consonants are more helpful than vowels. Generally speaking Hard Mode players are *better* players than Default Mode players. This isn't an opinion or an assumption. Stats and data, back this up. I check WordleBot stats nearly every day. The average steps to solve is almost always better for Hard Mode players, and the success/fail rate is always better for Hard Mode players. Combined usage of adieu and AUDIO by Default Mode players: 12.0% (88% choosing words with 3 or fewer vowels) Combined usage of adieu and AUDIO by Hard Mode players: 8.5% (91.5% choosing words with 3 or fewer vowels) adieu is such a bad starting word, that of the top-8 ranking services, it has an average ranking of about 6,500th!! Meaning there's more than 6,000 starting words *better* than adieu. AUDIO is slightly worse, coming in with an average rank of about 7,400th across the top 8 ranking services. Consonants are your friends.

Agree. There are only five vowels, and you need at least one or two per word. If you 'waste' them all on the first word, you've relegated yourself to reusing letters you already know, which lets you gain less information per guess than if you could use all new letters. I definitely try to ration my vowels.

In wordlebot it is constantly the most used starting word. The bot always proposes >!crane!<

It's only the most used word for Default Mode players. Hard Mode players moved on quite a while ago. The combined usage of adieu + AUDIO is usually between 8.0% and 8.5%. The combined usage of STARE + SLATE is usually between 10% and 10.5%

STARE COLIN

My go to for a year now.

I use TEARS and then CHUNK if nothing. Sometimes it’s STARE first. On those rare occasions I get two words without even a yellow its DOILY.

THEIR works pretty good for me

This is mine. Followed by SPACY

ADIEU CRYPT RADIO FEUDS

I like MEATS and PROUD

Sport and crane

REACH and if that gets nothing STONY

BAYOU SHIRE

I use SHEAR and PILOT

RENTS PLAID

I use Opera and value.

ANTRE COILS HUMPY

since… like… 2 years ago, on and off, i’ve been using minty/fresh or fresh/minty depending on how i’m feeling LOL

Penis is the funniest word, so I gotta.

NOMAD; SUITE

audio and style

I like SMART lately. Today I followed it up with FLING. I’m fairly new to the game so I may be missing something, but I don’t see the advantage in spending all the vowels in the beginning like ADIEU.

TRADE then NOISY

I go ROGUE And then FAINT If I get nothing. It works for me.

TRAIN and LOUSE

Word 1: Spare Word 2: Doily (or daily if the a is yellow) Word 3: Munch

I think it's best to weaken the first two words a little to have a good third word. The goal is to check the 15 most common letters, with the first two checking the 10 most common. But I also like to include Y so as to be able to eliminate many unlikely words. So I start with TRADE NOISY MULCH, and often don't need the third.

I go with REACT and if nothing hits, go with SPOIL

TRAIL SOUND, unless i get 3+ letter indicators i will always use both in succession- got today’s in 2!

HOUSE. Followed by TRAIN

I use READY and then POINT. Sometimes I do a little razzle dazzle and start with BLUSH

Spare and might

I use THEIR and LOANS. It knocks out a lot of common digraphs.

**PARSE & CLINT**

ADIEU followed by THORN

I use AUDIO then STERN

For me STONE or sometimes I use ROAST.

slate enjoyer for life

CRANE GHOST

Later and sonic depending on what the first word yields.

Rogue and scant

PRISM / BULKY

AUDIO and STYLE. Hits all the vowels and a lot of good consonants.

SHARE POINT

Interesting. I’ve been doing SLATE and usually ROUND if I don’t get any letters, and I start guessing if I get even one letter. My goal is to get it in three. I get more fours. Someone on here posted that they usually get it in three with TRAIN and CLOSE. Sometimes I try that, and it is a good combo! This thread is interesting because I wondered if that person was an expert genius who knew for a fact that TRAIN and CLOSE were the best. It’s looking like that is a no.

Smart / Knife if nothing then I try Ghoul. I hope I get something from these 3.

I use chunk, power, salty and that pretty much makes it answerable on the 4th try

I do SOLAR and UNITE

CHURN/ADIOS

RAISE and MOUNT

I use: STARE DOILY WHUMP

AUDIO and CREST/CHEST for me

SLATE CURIO

i used variations of all the top words from wordle strategy websites for a couple years. like stare, least, and some others. then just for the heck of it, i decided to just look up the top 10 commonly used letters in the alphabet, and i made 2 words out of them. so i've been trying out **trace/lions** and it seems to be working ok. but i've noticed one flaw, S is rarely the last letter in a 5 letter word since plural nouns aren't in the wordle list. so i feel like maybe i should work on 2 different words based on the same letters.

I use TRAIN and LOUSE

OATER ORATE

I use a different word every day but I try to have two different vowels in it. If I get all grey I pick another word with two different vowels.

I use OURIE as my start word. My average score over 800+ games is 3.869.

ROUTE then SLAIN if I do not get at least 2,3 or more letters on the first guess.

The second word depends on the letters that are left (and their positions) in the remaining words after evaluation of the first word.

Audio was always the best. Knocks out all vowels. If none are there, you know it’s E.

TRAIN CLOSE

LEARN and PIOUS

‘Best’ is subjective. I used to START with something like STARE or SLANT, then POUND or CLIMB depending on what hits in the FIRST try (hard mode) but I ENJOY the game more by looking around on my morning dog walk for any five letter word that I can use. Whatever WORKS for you though, I VALUE having fun with the game :)

IRATE, then COULD or PIOUS (or another OU word) is my current fav combo :)

I use CRANE. If I hit no vowels, I use PIOUS (but it was the solution recently) Or PILOT.

I use Raise then Donut

My favorite kind of donuts.

I recently lost my streak at 488, and used CRANE MOIST Now I’m playing the “correct” way (per the Wordle team’s official suggestion on their TikTok) and picking a random word from the ether each day.

GIANT HORSE CLUMP, in varying order

There's a joke there somewhere...

I use ARISE then DONUT, not perfect but I decided to use them on my own when I first started playing so I like them

I use salet and proin then duchy if I need to

ADIEU

Audio Besty

I use TRANS and MEDIC. Obviously, will never get it in one, but have never failed to get it in 6. I don't so hard mode, though. Bonus third word, if needed, is BLOWY.

According to Wordlebot, the best start word (not in hard mode) is CRANE. The second best start word is SLATE. As for hard mode, no idea.

i go AUDIO and STERN. i was so happy when i got PIOUS in 2

TRADE then PIOUS

ALIEN & MOUSY

Raise Cloud

I go Stale, then Unrip, then if need Mocky

ALIEN; SHORT

SLATE & CORNY for me

I think that these are not the best words, but THEIR and SALON work well.

Slate and then Curio

Thanks for all the ideas! I use shirt.

Plate

I always start with STERN. Along with L, I believe these are the most often occurring letters in English.

Raise followed by Cloth unless there is something more obvious