The best starting words for Wordbrew (backed by our own data)

Your first guess in Wordbrew is the only one you make with zero information. A good opening word can tell you two or three letters straight away; a poor one can leave you with five grey tiles and nothing to go on. Instead of guessing which words work best, we looked at the data: every one of the 1,854 answers in the Wordbrew list.

The most common letters in Wordbrew answers

Here is how often each letter appears in at least one spot of an answer word:

• E: in 46% of answers
• A: 40%
• R: 37%
• T: 30%
• L: 29%
• O: 28%
• S and I: 27% each
• N: 25%
• C and U: 20% each

At the other end, J, Z, Q and X each appear in fewer than 2% of answers. Using a rare letter in your opening guess is almost always a wasted slot.

Our top opening words

We scored every five-letter word with five different letters by how many answers each of its letters appears in. The winners are a family of words built from the same five letters, A, E, L, R and T:

• ALERT, ALTER and LATER: all three cover the five most useful letters
• ORATE: swaps L for O, a good choice if you like testing a second vowel
• STARE, ARISE and RAISE: very close behind, and easy to remember

Where letters like to sit

Position matters as much as the letter itself. In Wordbrew answers:

• S is the most common first letter (17% of answers), followed by C, B and T.
• The second and third spots are usually vowels: A, O, R, I and E lead.
• E is the most common last letter (20%), and Y is second (15%).
• Only about 1% of answers end in S, because Wordbrew does not use plurals.

Vowels and repeated letters

Most answers (57%) contain exactly two vowels, about a third (34%) contain one, and fewer than one in ten contain three. So once you have found two vowels, it is usually time to focus on consonants.

Repeated letters are more common than people expect: about 30% of answers use a letter twice, as in SPOON, LEVEL or SLEEP. If you have only found four letters after several guesses, consider that one of them might appear twice.

A simple two-guess plan

• Guess 1: ALERT (or LATER).
• Guess 2: if most tiles were grey, play a word with five new common letters, such as SONIC or COINS.
• Guess 3 onwards: only use letters you know are in the word, plus one or two likely new ones.

There is no single perfect word, and the fun of Wordbrew is that every day is different. But starting with common letters in common positions will save you tries more often than not, and fewer tries means more points.