Best starting words
A data-driven look at which 5-letter word you should open with to maximize your chances of solving a daily word puzzle in 6 tries.
Last updated: 2026-01-01
Why your first word matters
In a 6-guess game, your opening word sets the stage for the whole puzzle. A great opener rules out or confirms as many letters as possible, narrows the answer space, and gives you information for every subsequent guess. A weak opener (something with rare letters, or repeated letters) burns a turn and leaves you with a much harder puzzle.
The classical goal of an opener is simple: test as many common, distinct letters as possible. The classic choice CRANE follows that recipe (C, R, A, N, E — five distinct letters covering three vowels-or-vowel-like consonants and a common consonant mix). But is it actually the best?
How we ranked the words
We ranked every word in the CrackMyWord answer dictionary (950 words) using a simple but effective method: for each candidate word, we added up the frequency of each of its unique letters in the rest of the answer dictionary. A word like STARE scores highly because S, T, A, R, and E are all extremely common letters in 5-letter English words.
The top 20 candidates from this method are below.
| # | Word | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | STARE | 1919 |
| 2 | TEARS | 1919 |
| 3 | ARISE | 1851 |
| 4 | RAISE | 1851 |
| 5 | LASER | 1822 |
| 6 | TRIES | 1821 |
| 7 | STORE | 1818 |
| 8 | SNARE | 1814 |
| 9 | ALERT | 1808 |
| 10 | ALTER | 1808 |
| 11 | LATER | 1808 |
| 12 | LEAST | 1791 |
| 13 | SLATE | 1791 |
| 14 | STALE | 1791 |
| 15 | STEAL | 1791 |
| 16 | STERN | 1784 |
| 17 | SHARE | 1766 |
| 18 | SHEAR | 1766 |
| 19 | EARTH | 1752 |
| 20 | HEART | 1752 |
The top 5 reasons they win
- Three of the five vowels (or vowel-like letters) are present. A, E, and one of I/O/U. This catches the most common vowels early.
- Five distinct letters. No repeats — every letter tells you something.
- Common consonants. S, T, R, N, L are the most common consonants in English 5-letter words; the top words lean heavily on them.
- No rare letters. Words like JAZZ or NYMPH score low — they reveal a green/yellow only if those rare letters happen to be in the answer, which is unlikely.
- Usable as a guess. Every word in the top 20 is also a valid English word a player would actually consider.
Which one should you actually use?
The top three — STARE, RAISE, and ARISE — are all close in score. Pick whichever one you can spell without thinking. The point isn't to pick the mathematically optimal word; it's to pick a word you'll actually commit to under pressure instead of staring at the keyboard.
That said, we recommend STARE for two reasons. First, it ends in E, which lets you pluralize guesses on later turns (STORES, STARES, etc.) and gets useful information about S. Second, its letters are spread across high-traffic positions in the answer dictionary.
After the opener: what to look for
Letter frequency is not the whole story. The position of a letter matters a lot too. Here are the most common letters by position in the CrackMyWord answer dictionary.
Position 1
- S22.0%
- T10.2%
- P6.7%
- W6.5%
- C5.8%
Position 2
- O13.2%
- R12.3%
- A10.9%
- E9.5%
- I9.4%
Position 3
- A16.0%
- I12.7%
- O11.1%
- E10.5%
- R7.4%
Position 4
- E15.9%
- N8.6%
- A7.6%
- L7.5%
- S7.2%
Position 5
- E19.9%
- T12.3%
- R9.2%
- S8.2%
- D8.0%
Global letter frequency (top 10)
Across all positions, the most common letters in 5-letter English words in our dictionary are:
- E — 50.9% of words contain this letter.
- R — 39.1% of words contain this letter.
- A — 38.9% of words contain this letter.
- S — 37.3% of words contain this letter.
- T — 35.8% of words contain this letter.
- I — 28.6% of words contain this letter.
- O — 28.3% of words contain this letter.
- L — 25.6% of words contain this letter.
- N — 24.7% of words contain this letter.
- H — 19.7% of words contain this letter.
Common mistakes
- Repeating letters in your opener. It tells you less. Prefer five distinct letters.
- Picking your favorite word. It might not be optimal, and you'll get in the habit of opening with it regardless of the puzzle.
- Ignoring yellows. A yellow letter is just as useful as a green one — it's in the word, you just need a different position. Don't abandon it.
- Saving letters for later. With only 6 tries, every guess needs to test at least one new letter when possible. Don't play it safe.
Try it on today's puzzle
Put one of the top 20 openers to work on the CrackMyWord daily puzzle and see how you do. After your first guess, the tile colors will tell you which letters to keep and which to drop.