I have been playing Wordle for a long time and have seen plenty of strategies for solving the puzzle in the fewest guesses, but claiming you’ve actually cracked Wordle is a pretty bold statement. That’s exactly what one X user recently claimed, though, and his Wordle trick is surprisingly simple!
According to X user @rudy_betrayed, the best Wordle starting words are STAIR, LEMON, and PUDGY. Together, these three words check 15 different letters without repeating a single one. The idea is that by the time you’ve played all three, you’ve gathered enough information to figure out the answer on your fourth guess.
Sounds pretty convincing, right? Well, this isn’t the first time a Wordle player has thought they’ve found the ultimate strategy. People have been trying to optimize the game almost since it first took off back in 2021.
If you know how to play Wordle, you already know all the rules and game mechanics. But if you’re still getting acquainted with the rules, the game gives you visual clues for each word you enter, using which you have to find today’s Wordle answer.
That said, I went through the Wordle archives and put this new three-word opening trick to the test. Here’s what I found.
How Well Does the STAIR-LEMON-PUDGY Wordle Strategy Work?
To test the claim, I played 40 past Wordle games using ‘STAIR, LEMON, and PUDGY’ as my three-word opener. I followed the method as closely as possible to gather all the information before trying to solve the puzzle.
And honestly, the results were better than I expected. I was able to solve 37 out of 40 puzzles using this strategy, which is a solid 92.5% win rate. However, winning the game doesn’t necessarily mean you get the answer on the fourth guess.
The whole point of the strategy is to gather as much information as possible with those first three words, but what you do with that information can still vary from game to game.
In some games, the first three words gave me enough information to solve the puzzle on the fourth guess. In others, they were barely helpful, leaving me with little to work with and forcing me to do some serious detective work before arriving at the Wordle answer.
So, after testing so many games, it’s clear that the method works. It may not guarantee a fourth-guess solve every time, but it gives you a remarkably effective way to narrow down the possibilities and reach the answer before you run out of attempts.
Does Optimizing Guesses Take the Fun Out of Wordle?
Though it works, I’m a little less convinced about using this method. Sure, using STAIR, LEMON, and PUDGY as your initial guesses is clever. It covers a huge chunk of the alphabet and optimizes the puzzle for you. But if you use the same three guesses every day, you’re taking away a big part of what makes Wordle fun.
I completely understand using this trick if you are working towards a long Wordle streak. However, if you’re playing the game because you enjoy the challenge, I’d recommend switching things up. Try using different starting words, look through unused Wordle words, or even revisit the past Wordle answers to see which kinds of words tend to trip you up.
Another downside is that if you’re always spending your first three attempts testing letters, you’d be losing out on Wordle badges such as ‘Wordle in 1’ and ‘Wordle in 2.’ Since these reward particularly impressive solves, you probably don’t want to rule yourself out before you’ve even started.
So, has this three-word strategy cracked Wordle? Well, almost! STAIR, LEMON, and PUDGY give you vital information, but you’ll still need some good-old-fashioned Wordle skills to finish the job!
The 3-word Wordle trick uses STAIR, LEMON, and PUDGY as the first three guesses. Together, they test 15 unique letters of the alphabet, giving you plenty of clues about the answer. The idea is to use that information to solve the puzzle on your fourth guess.
Wordle is a mix of both luck and skill. Your opening word and how you interpret the colored clues are skill-based, but how quickly the letters fall into place can involve lots of luck.
Solving Wordle in three guesses is good. Getting there in three guesses usually means that you made strong guesses, used the clues well, and had a little luck on your side.
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