Choosing a starter word in Wordle is as much an art as a science. A Computer analysis revealed that 'crane' was the best choice, while 'salet' ranked second. However, The New York Times conducted an analysis on the most-chosen opening words and found a gloomy picture: 'adieu' is the most beloved starter, but it's also the least effective.
To clarify: 'adieu' isn't the worst word you could've started with; it's simply the least effective of the 30 most popular starter words. When ranked by popularity, the top 5 are 'adieu,' 'stare,' 'slate,' 'audio,' and 'raise.'
If you evaluate the top 30 based on effectiveness, the top 5 are 'slate,' 'crane,' 'least,' 'stare,' and 'raise.' My personal favorite, 'arise,' ranks seventh on the list.
Should a word begin with many vowels?
Controversies surround this topic. The argument for 'adieu' is its four vowels, and you know that the solution must contain some vowels. Therefore, eliminating four of them at the start makes sense. (O and occasionally Y are the exceptions.)
However, it can be argued that vowels don't provide much 'information' to limit possibilities according to data science principles. After all, isn't an 'a' helpful in any word?
An alternative strategy is to start with words with more consonants and consider vowels later. According to one Wordle expert, "there are only five vowels, and it's almost never U."
My approach splits the difference: I treat my vowels as pairs. With 'arise' and 'touch,' I gathered information about all five vowels and the five most common consonants. If you play 'adieu,' you should be ready to consider 'thorn.'
Don't forget the sometimes-present vowel Y
Another insight from The New York Times' analysis is that words containing Y are, on average, more challenging to solve.
Y tends to be overlooked because it's the last letter in the alphabet. People tend to think it's as rare as X and Z. But 'y' appears quite frequently and is present in words like 'funny' and 'jazzy' (Jazzy is the hardest word to solve this year). Words ending in 'y' often have a double consonant - like in 'n' and 'z' examples - so make sure to consider them when narrowing down possibilities.
You might remember from elementary school that "A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y" were the vowels. (Or maybe you learned "...sometimes Y and W.") The reason for this is that 'y' can act as an independent vowel: the last 'y' in 'funny' is an example. Additionally, there are words with only 'y' as the vowel, like 'glyph,' 'nymph,' and 'tryst.'
If you feel stumped while playing Wordle and think you're lacking enough vowels to form the word, try inserting a 'y' somewhere, preferably at the end. If you still can't proceed, 'lanky' or 'horny' might be good alternatives.
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If you want to choose the best starter word for Wordle, you might want to prefer the famous Wordle starter 'crane,' rather than relying on The New York Times' list, which shows that 'adieu' is the most popular but least effective starter word.
To make Wordle easier based on popularity, it's worth noting that 'adieu' is the least effective starting word as it represents the most popular opening sequence. However, it's important to remember that 'adieu' can still be a good choice and sometimes be the correct solution.
Source:
Enrichment Data: According to The New York Times, "adieu" is considered the least effective Wordle opening word despite its popularity because it often fails to provide useful consonant hints, leading to a higher number of attempts needed to solve the puzzle. Specifically, players who start with "adieu" typically need about a third of a turn more to solve their Wordles compared to those who start with more efficient words like "slate" or "tears" (as mentioned in the article "Bid adieu to adieu, no tears for tears, shirk shirk" by The Reflector)[2]. This inefficiency is attributed to the lack of consonant hints, making it harder for players to narrow down the possibilities quickly.
