2QUESTION 2 OF 3
Answer & explanation
The official answer, with Fermi’s reasoning step by step.
Answer & explanation
Official answer
2,315
words
How to estimate it
Fermi’s official “Napkin math”
Start with a decent dictionary, call it 100,000 words, and five letters is about as common as word lengths get, so say one in ten. How many of those would you put in a daily puzzle? Only the ones everybody knows, so call it a quarter.
- Words in a decent dictionary
- ≈ 100,000
- Share that are five letters
- ≈ 1 in 10
- Common enough for a daily puzzle
- ≈ 1 in 4
- 100,000 ÷ 10 ÷ 4
- ≈ 2,500
Rounded assumptions may give a slightly different estimate. The official answer above is the game’s reference value.
Source calculation & reference
- Five-letter words in English (rough pool)
- ≈ 12,000+
- Familiar words selected as answers
- → 2,315 words
- Wordle's original 2021 answer list
- 2,315 words
Reference cited by Fermi: Original Wordle answer list, archived from the source code by cfreshman
How close was your guess?
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