The “best” Wordle starting word isn’t universally agreed, but several data- driven analyses and tools now converge on a small group of powerhouse openers, with CRANE , SLATE , and ROATE often at the top of the pile.

Quick Scoop: the current top picks

From recent analyses of the official Wordle answer list and New York Times’ WordleBot updates, these are widely regarded as elite first guesses:

  • CRANE – Often cited as the best overall starting word right now, especially by WordleBot.
  • SLATE – A top-scoring opener in WordleBot, strong in both normal and hard mode.
  • ROATE / SOARE / RAISE – Frequently come out near the top in independent simulations of all valid guesses.
  • Other strong contenders: TRACE, CRATE, CARTE, STARE, SALET, LEAST, DEALT.

A good mental shortcut: pick one consistent opener with common letters (S, T, R, N, L) plus two or more frequent vowels (A, E, O, I), and stick with it so you learn how it behaves.

Why these words work so well

All of these high-performing starters share a few traits:

  • They use very common letters in English and in the Wordle answer list (especially A, E, R, S, T, N).
  • They avoid rare letters like J, Q, X, Z, which almost never appear in answers.
  • They include at least two vowels , often three, to quickly map the puzzle’s vowel structure.
  • They don’t repeat letters, giving you maximum information from your first guess.

One example: SLATE hits S, L, T (common consonants) plus A and E (two of the most frequent vowels), so almost any feedback you get will cut down the solution space dramatically.

Different “best” words for different goals

What you mean by “best” can change the answer a little:

  1. Best for pure statistics
    • Analyses that simulate all valid guesses against the official answer list often rank ROATE, SOARE, RAISE at or near the top for reducing the remaining word pool fastest.
  1. Best according to WordleBot (NYT)
    • WordleBot currently considers CRANE one of the top openers, rating it 99/100, alongside SLATE, TRACE, CRATE, CARET, CARTE.
 * It previously favored **CRANE** heavily and still scores it extremely high.
  1. Best if you always play Hard Mode
    • For hard mode, where you must reuse confirmed letters, tools and analyses often highlight LEAST and DEALT as especially efficient because they still use very strong letters while respecting the harder constraints.
  1. Best pair strategy
    • Some analyses look at the best two-word combo instead of just one guess. One such study found COALS + NITER to be an exceptionally strong pair, covering tons of high-frequency letters by the end of the second guess.

Practical advice for your own play

If you just want something easy and strong, pick one of these and stick with it:

  • CRANE – Safe, powerful all-rounder, and currently “officially” excellent via WordleBot.
  • SLATE – Great in both normal and hard mode.
  • ROATE – Very strong in simulations of the entire answer space.

Then build a plan for your second guess:

  • If you start with STARE or SLATE , a common pattern is to follow with a word like PHONY , COULD , or DOING that uses new consonants (P, H, N, Y, C, D, G) without repeating letters unnecessarily.
  • If your first word whiffs (mostly gray letters), your second word’s job is to cover the remaining common letters (N, R, L, C, D, P, H, Y) and a missing vowel if needed.

Mini multi-view: are vowel-heavy openers good?

There’s an ongoing forum-style debate about “all-vowel-ish” openers like ADIEU and AUDIO :

  • Pro: They reveal the puzzle’s vowel pattern very quickly, which feels satisfying and can help human intuition.
  • Con: They ignore strong consonants like R, S, T, N, which many data-driven analyses show are crucial to narrowing down the answer list efficiently.

Most recent quantitative work leans toward balanced words (like CRANE or SLATE) over extreme vowel dumps.

Simple story-style example

Imagine you always open with CRANE.

  • Day 1: You get C and A in yellow, N in green. You instantly know the word has C, A, N and the N’s exact spot. Your second guess can lock down the structure quickly.
  • Day 2: You get nothing but gray. That looks bad, but you’ve quietly removed five high-frequency letters from the pool; your second guess can now focus on S, T, L, O, U, P, H, Y and so on, and you’re suddenly on a much clearer path.

Over time, using the same strong starter helps you develop a feel for likely follow-up patterns even beyond what the raw statistics say.

Quick HTML table of top starting words

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Starting word</th>
      <th>Why it’s strong</th>
      <th>Notable source</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>CRANE</td>
      <td>Balanced vowels/consonants, top rating from WordleBot.</td>
      <td>NYT WordleBot, TechRadar analysis.[web:1][web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>SLATE</td>
      <td>Excellent in normal and hard mode; covers S, L, T plus A, E.</td>
      <td>WordleBot recommendations.[web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>ROATE</td>
      <td>Very efficient at shrinking the answer pool in simulations.</td>
      <td>Independent algorithmic studies.[web:3][web:8]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>SOARE</td>
      <td>High-scoring in some full-list simulations; great letter coverage.</td>
      <td>Analyses of answer-sheet statistics.[web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>RAISE</td>
      <td>Three common vowels plus two common consonants.</td>
      <td>Mashable and other strategy guides.[web:3][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>STARE</td>
      <td>Classic human-friendly opener with very common letters.</td>
      <td>Popular guides and strategy writeups.[web:3]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Bottom line: if you want a single, data-backed answer to “what is the best word to start with in Wordle,” you won’t go wrong with CRANE , SLATE , or ROATE , with CRANE currently enjoying the strongest “official” backing via WordleBot.

TL;DR:

  • There’s no one absolutely perfect word, but CRANE is arguably the best all-round modern pick, with SLATE and ROATE right behind it.
  • Choose one strong starter, learn its patterns, and pair it with a smart second guess for consistently better streaks.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.