How to Pick the Best Starting Word for Wordle

There’s an art and a science to picking a good starting word when you play Wordle. My trusty starter of ARISE has served me so well for years I still use it daily. Emily Long, who writes our daily Wordle hints, often uses a slight tweak on that strategy, with RAISE. Computer analyses have highlighted other words, and longtime Wordle players each have their own opinion. One thing most of us can agree on, though: ADIEU sucks. Sorry.

That's not to say it's the worst word you could play first, but according to the New York Times, ADIEU is the worst out of the 30 most popular starters. But when they ranked the top 30 starters based on how effective they are at revealing letters in any given puzzle, the top five are SLATE, CRANE, LEAST, STARE, and RAISE, with ADIEU landing at number 30. (My per