The 15 Best Wordle Starting Words, Ranked by Data

How the ranking works

A great Wordle opener does one job: eliminate as many possibilities as possible. We measured that directly. First we counted how often each letter appears across all 878 five-letter words in our dictionary. Then we scored every word with five unique letters by adding up its letters' frequencies. The higher the score, the more of the dictionary each guess rules in or out.

Two rules kept the ranking honest: no repeated letters (a double letter tests the same tile twice and wastes information), and every candidate had to be a real, playable word.

The top 15 Wordle openers

Rank	Word	Score	Vowels	Why it works
1	AROSE	1867	3	Three vowels (A, O, E) plus R and S — five of the most common letters, zero repeats.
2	RATES	1843	2	R, A, T, E, S: the classic consonant-vowel blend, all top-ten letters.
3	STARE	1843	2	Same elite letter set as RATES in a different order — order barely matters for information.
4	LASER	1825	2	L and S are both extremely common; a favorite of frequency-first players.
5	RAISE	1807	3	Three vowels with R and S — the most recommended opener in Wordle communities.
6	ARISE	1807	3	RAISE's twin; pick whichever you remember more easily.
7	CATER	1787	2	C and T are workhorse consonants most openers underuse.
8	CRATE	1787	2	The mathematician's darling — C, R, A, T, E is near-optimal coverage.
9	TRACE	1787	2	Same letter set as CRATE and CATER; all three are interchangeable.
10	CASTE	1773	2	S up front tests plurals and -ES endings early.
11	CLEAR	1769	2	C, L, E, A, R — strong if you prefer consonant-heavy information.
12	LATER	1769	2	Tests the ultra-common -ATER and -ATER-style endings.
13	ALERT	1769	2	A, L, E, R, T: five letters that appear in a huge share of answers.
14	ALTER	1769	2	ALERT's anagram — same information, different feel.
15	LEAST	1755	2	L, E, A, S, T rounds out the elite tier; a superb second guess too.

The letters that matter most

Here is the raw frequency count behind the ranking — how many times each letter appears across our 878 five-letter words:

Letter	Appearances	Letter	Appearances
E	478	L	256
A	417	I	238
R	344	N	204
S	330	B	167
O	298	H	156
T	274	D	156
C	274	U	145

The takeaway is simple: an opener built from the top of this list will always beat a "clever" word full of rare letters. Letters like J, Q, X and Z feel powerful but appear so rarely that testing them first is almost pure waste.

What makes a great opener (the 3 rules)

1. Five unique letters. Repeats give you one letter's worth of information for two tiles. There are 116 five-letter words with double letters in our dictionary — save them for later guesses when the candidates demand it.

2. At least two vowels. Every answer has at least one vowel, and most have two or three. AROSE, RAISE and ARISE each pack three, which is why they top the ranking.

3. Favor the frequent. Build from E, A, R, S, O, T, C, L, I, N. If your favorite opener contains J, Q, X, Z or V, it is costing you information every single game.

Your second guess matters just as much

One great opener only tests five letters. The real power move is a second guess with five completely fresh letters — for example, follow AROSE with something built from C, L, I, N and T. Two non-overlapping openers identify ten distinct high-frequency letters, which is usually enough to pin down the answer's skeleton by guess three. After that, plug your green and yellow clues into the Wordle solver and let it narrow the field. For the full playbook, see how to win at Wordle and grab today's Wordle hints when you want a nudge instead of an answer.