Best second guesses after CRANE and SLATE
The numbers behind guess two, measured on the same word list the solver uses.
If you want one word to play second no matter what the tiles say, it is SPILT after CRANE and MINOR after SLATE. Read the feedback first and you can do better: the best pattern-specific second guess cuts the field to single digits on most days. Here are the numbers.
How we ranked the second guesses
We scored every candidate against the 2,315-word common list that powers the Wordle solver, the same list behind our 5-letter word pages. For each candidate we grouped the possible answers by the colour pattern that guess would return, then measured the information that split gives you in bits. One bit means the field halves. Five bits means it shrinks to about a thirtieth.
Two different questions come out of that, and they have different answers. The fixed second guess is the best word to play before you look at the tiles, averaged over every pattern the opener can produce. The adaptive second guess is the best word once you know which pattern you got. Both are in the tables below.
What CRANE and SLATE actually leave you
The two openers behave a little differently. SLATE splits the list slightly more finely, but neither opener is a runaway winner, which is exactly what the starting words guide argued.
| Opener | Information | Answers left on average | Distinct patterns |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLATE | 5.86 bits | 71.6 | 147 |
| CRATE | 5.84 bits | 72.9 | - |
| TRACE | 5.83 bits | 74.0 | - |
| CRANE | 5.74 bits | 78.7 | 142 |
| SLANT | 5.49 bits | 98.9 | - |
| ADIEU | 4.88 bits | 123.7 | - |
| AUDIO | 4.59 bits | 183.7 | - |
Seventy-odd candidates is still a crowd, so guess two is doing most of the work in a three-guess solve.
The best fixed second guess
Play these without looking and you still average close to the maximum available information. Notice how little the two lists overlap: CRANE has already spent C, R, A, N and E, so the good follow-ups load up on S, P, I, L, O and T. SLATE leaves the R and the N untested, so its follow-ups chase those instead.
| Rank | After CRANE | Bits | After SLATE | Bits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SPILT | 3.78 | MINOR | 3.57 |
| 2 | SPLIT | 3.75 | CORNY | 3.55 |
| 3 | PILOT | 3.72 | CRONY | 3.55 |
| 4 | MOIST | 3.67 | GROIN | 3.54 |
| 5 | POSIT | 3.66 | RHINO | 3.54 |
| 6 | HOIST | 3.64 | ROBIN | 3.52 |
| 7 | SOLID | 3.64 | CHOIR | 3.51 |
| 8 | SLOTH | 3.64 | ROUND | 3.50 |
Pairs matter more than words. CRANE plus SPILT covers ten different letters and both lists of very common sounds. SLATE plus MINOR does the same job from the other side.
The best second guess for each feedback pattern
Once you see the colours, a tailored guess beats the fixed one by a wide margin. In the tables, G is a green tile and Y is a yellow one, reading left to right across the opener. The last column is how many candidates you can expect to have left after playing the suggested word.
| CRANE feedback | Meaning | Answers left | Best guess | Then left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - - - - - | All grey | 263 | SPILT | 7.9 |
| - - Y - - | A yellow | 134 | SALTY | 5.6 |
| - - - - Y | E yellow | 127 | SLEET | 4.2 |
| - Y - - Y | R and E yellow | 122 | SLEET | 12.0 |
| - - - - G | E green | 102 | GUILT | 4.1 |
| - Y - - - | R yellow | 90 | SHOUT | 3.3 |
| - Y Y - - | R and A yellow | 65 | LORRY | 4.4 |
| - - - Y Y | N and E yellow | 58 | OLDEN | 3.6 |
| SLATE feedback | Meaning | Answers left | Best guess | Then left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - - - - - | All grey | 221 | CRONY | 6.6 |
| - - - - Y | E yellow | 165 | DINER | 8.2 |
| - - Y - - | A yellow | 136 | MINOR | 4.8 |
| - - - - G | E green | 107 | GROIN | 4.1 |
| - Y - - - | L yellow | 87 | DILLY | 3.7 |
| - - - Y - | T yellow | 86 | COUNT | 3.5 |
| - - - Y Y | T and E yellow | 72 | DETER | 3.4 |
| - - Y - Y | A and E yellow | 61 | CYBER | 5.1 |
The all-grey row is the one worth memorising, because it is the single most likely outcome: 11 percent of answers give CRANE nothing at all, and 10 percent do the same to SLATE. Most players panic there. Play SPILT or CRONY and you walk into guess three with about seven words on the table.
What a weak second guess costs
Playing a plausible-looking word that reuses dead letters is where solves get thrown away. After CRANE, IONIC returns 1.90 bits against SPILT's 3.78, so it leaves you with roughly four times as many candidates. ROUND manages 2.28 and PORCH 2.30. After SLATE, PILOT drops to 2.50 because it wastes the L and the T you already tested, while the same word is the third-best pick after CRANE. The right second guess depends entirely on which opener you used.
Do you need to memorise any of this?
No. Learn the all-grey answer for your opener, keep one fixed backup in your pocket, and let the tool do the rest. Enter your first guess and its colours in the solver and it narrows the list for you, which is the same calculation running live. If you play on hard mode, where every revealed letter must be reused, these picks often become illegal, and the hard mode guide covers what changes.