Wordle Traps: The Five-Letter Patterns With the Most Answers
Every Wordle player knows the feeling: four letters green, two guesses left, and five different words that could fill the gap. These situations are called traps, and they cause more lost games than anything else. The good news is that the worst traps are predictable, and there is a reliable way out.
The biggest traps
We searched the everyday five-letter words in our dictionary for patterns where four letters are fixed and one letter can change. These are the ones with the most possible answers. We have left out simple plurals such as BEARS and TEARS, because players have long noticed that Wordle rarely uses them as answers.
| Pattern | Everyday words that fit | Including | Best probe word |
|---|---|---|---|
| _IGHT | 11 | RIGHT, NIGHT, LIGHT, MIGHT, EIGHT, FIGHT, TIGHT, SIGHT | TERMS (tests 5) |
| _OUND | 8 | FOUND, SOUND, ROUND, BOUND, POUND, WOUND, MOUND, HOUND | FRESH or BRUSH (tests 4) |
| _ATCH | 7 | WATCH, MATCH, PATCH, CATCH, BATCH, HATCH, LATCH | CLAMP or CLIMB (tests 4) |
| SHA_E | 7 | SHARE, SHAPE, SHADE, SHAKE, SHAME, SHAVE | PRIME or DRIVE (tests 3) |
| STA_E | 7 | STATE, STAGE, STAKE, STARE, STALE | GREAT or LARGE (tests 3) |
| _ATER | 7 | WATER, LATER, CATER, EATER, HATER | WHILE (tests 3) |
The counts include a few rarer words in our list, so the familiar examples are shown. Wordle's own answer list is different from ours, but these patterns cause trouble in any version of the game.
Why guessing one at a time fails
Suppose you have _IGHT with four guesses left. If you guess RIGHT, then NIGHT, then LIGHT, then MIGHT, you can easily run out before reaching the answer. Each guess only tests one letter, and the trap has more options than you have turns.
The way out: a probe word
Instead, spend one guess on a word that tests several of the possible missing letters at once, even though you know it is not the answer. For _IGHT, the possible first letters include R, N, L, M, E, F, T and S. The word TERMS tests five of them in a single guess: T, E, R, M and S. Whichever one turns yellow tells you the answer, and if none do, you have ruled out five words at once.
The table above gives a good probe word for each trap. In Hard Mode you cannot do this, because every guess must use the letters you have already found, which is exactly why these patterns are so dangerous there.
Spot a trap early
- Watch for common endings. -IGHT, -OUND, -ATCH, -ATER and -ERRY all have many possible first letters.
- Count your remaining guesses. If there are more possible answers than guesses, it is time for a probe word.
- Use your second guess well. A second guess full of new common consonants makes it less likely you will reach a trap in the first place.
Our Wordle helper lists every word that still fits your clues, so you can see how big a trap is before choosing your next guess. For more strategy, see our Wordle tips and our list of five-letter words with the most vowels.
Wordle is a trademark of The New York Times Company. EasyUnscramble is independent and not affiliated with it.
Related reading: Wordle tips · 5-letter words with the most vowels · Best Wordle starting words
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