Wordle Statistics — Hardest and Easiest Words Ever

Since the New York Times acquired Wordle, the puzzle team has maintained statistics on player performance. Some words crush the streak of even experienced players. Analysis reveals consistent patterns in what makes a Wordle answer hard.

What Makes a Wordle Word Hard

Statistical analysis of player performance reveals consistent patterns in difficult answers. Double letters are the single biggest difficulty factor: ABBEY, SPEED, FLUFF, and similar words catch players who exhaust non-double possibilities first. Unusual letter positions compound the problem.

The Notorious CRANE Trap

Several answers share three letters with dozens of other words, creating a situation where players have three green tiles but five or more remaining possibilities. Words like _IGHT (LIGHT, MIGHT, NIGHT, RIGHT, SIGHT, TIGHT, FIGHT) or _ATCH (BATCH, CATCH, HATCH, LATCH, MATCH, PATCH, WATCH) create high-guess scenarios even with correct letters identified.

The Hardest Confirmed Answers

JAZZY, EPOXY, OXIDE, FUDGE, and JOUST consistently rank as words that many players fail on. Uncommon letters (J, Z, X, Q) create difficulty when players use their guesses on common-letter words first and run out of turns before reaching the uncommon letter answer. Vowel-heavy words like AGUE, ADIEU (no longer in the list), and OZONE create difficulty from the opposite direction.