Seven letters and only six guesses: this is where word games start to feel like a proper puzzle.
Long words, fewer guesses per letter
Seven letters with six guesses is the tightest ratio on the site, and it shows. You cannot test every letter one by one, so you have to read the board: which letters are likely to sit together, where the vowels go, what the word probably ends with. Two out of three seven-letter answers (66.8%) repeat a letter, as in balloon, pattern or excerpt.
The answer list has 2,148 common seven-letter words, and 23,887 words are accepted as guesses. An answer has 2.67 vowels on average, and the favorite first letters are C, S, P.
Best starting words for 7 letters
We scored every possible first guess against the full list of seven-letter answers and measured how well its colors split that list. The best everyday words to start with are CERTAIN, REALIST, SALIENT, RELIANT, ROUTINE. CERTAIN leaves about 10.2 possible answers on average after the first guess. A strong second guess that repeats as few of its letters as possible is SUBLIME. The full method is on the how to play page.
The letters to test early are E (66.3%), R (53.9%), A (50.5%), I (44.1%), T (44%), N (39.1%). Seven-letter answers end in E 22.6% of the time, with R and T behind it, which is why so many good openers end in one of them.
How to think about seven letters
- Find the skeleton. Place the vowels first; the consonants in between usually come in familiar pairs such as ST, CH, NT or PR.
- Common endings: -ION, -ENT, -ATE and -ITY show up again and again. Test them with a word that has them in place.
- Common beginnings: CON-, PRE-, COM- and RE- open a lot of seven-letter words.
- Daily version: the daily 7-letter puzzle is the same word for everyone until midnight Eastern Time.
Frequently asked questions
How many guesses do I get with 7 letters?
Six. From eight letters up you get seven.
What is the best first word for 7-letter Wordle?
Among common words: CERTAIN, REALIST, SALIENT, RELIANT, ROUTINE. CERTAIN leaves about 10.2 candidates on average.
Why are some real words not accepted?
Our dictionary accepts 23,887 seven-letter words, including plurals and verb forms. If a real word is missing, tell us on the contact page and we will add it.
Does hard mode work with 7 letters?
Yes, and it bites harder here: every yellow letter must be used again, so there is no room for a pure test guess. See hard mode.