Wordle Word Frequency: Why Some Letters Appear More Often Than Others

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Not all letters are going to be as common in Wordle. The Wordle answer bank consists of around 2300 common 5 letter English words so some letters are going to be much more common than others. Knowing which letters are common can help you build a very effective Wordle strategy.

Word Frequency

Looking at the Wordle Unlimited answers we can find some trends.

Most common vowels

E is the most common letter in the Wordle answer. A is the next most common, then O, I and U. Every 5 letter word requires one vowel, most have two or three so focusing on vowels can be key to building an effective strategy. Words with strange vowel patterns such as AUDIO (with 4 vowels) can be great first guesses.

Most common consonants

R, S, T, L and N are the most common consonants in 5 letter English words and can be found in the Wordle answers. Following these are C, D, P, M and H. Using a high frequency word such as CRANE or STARE can be great as they consist of multiple letters that are all highly common. C, R, A, N, E and S, T, A, R, E.

Least common letters

Q, X, Z, J are the least common letters in Wordle answers. V, K and W are also rare but there are still words that include them. KNAVE, VIVID and WALTZ. As these letters are rare it is generally not a good idea to guess them on your first or second guess. Only try guessing these if you have limited options due to colour clues.

Letter position frequency

Some letters are much more common in certain spots.

Position 1 – S is the most common first letter in 5 letter English words. C, B, T and P follow.
Position 5 – By far the most common last letter is E. Many winning words end with E. CRANE, STARE, ARISE and ADORE. Y also appears quite frequently. STORY, CANDY and GRAVY.
Position 3 – A is the most common middle letter. Many words follow the pattern consonant vowel consonant vowel consonant.

Why Frequency Matters

Most Effective First Guesses

Using high frequency letters in your first guess will give you the best chance of getting high frequency letters. CRANE includes C, R, A, N and E. STARE includes S, T, A, R and E. Both include roughly half of the 10 most common letters. This makes them much more effective than just randomly picking a 5 letter word.

Second Guess

After your first guess you should guess another word that includes the next most common letters. If your guess was CRANE and you didn't get any new green or yellow letters then guessing a word like STOMP (S, T, O, M, P) or LOUSY (L, O, U, S, Y) will help you to continue expanding your guesses with the most common letters.

Double Letters

Around 1 in 6 Wordle answers will have a repeated letter. Common double letters include -LL (SPILL, SHELL), -SS (BLISS, DRESS), -EE (STEEL, SHEET) and double-O (BLOOM, BROOD). As standard opening guesses use 5 different letters you will not be able to find out if there are any double letters. Some players will use their third guess to test if there are any double letters.

Although knowing which letters are common won't guarantee you'll win in 2 guesses it will stop you from making the most wasteful guesses and give you a solid strategy based on statistics. Wordle Unlimited