Four-Letter Wordle - Why Shorter Words Are Harder Than You Think

Obviously, four letters is the easy mode. Fewer letters, fewer things to consider, easier words.

Parents teach their kids to use it; veterans solve it effortlessly; no one sees it as a challenge.

However, they tend to fail in a lot of cases out of twenty, as these words are known by a seven-year-old child.

Why less letters does not make the word easy

Length is of little importance when it comes to difficulty of guessing. Difficulty lies in how much your candidates' pool gets diminished after every feedback and short words are bad at it.

Five letter words provide you with five points of information in each attempt. Four letter ones – with four. That means that you receive twenty percent less information with every guess and your budget is still six guesses long.


Moreover, there is an overwhelming number of four letter words. Thousands of them occupy the space of letter combinations. They all differ from each other with only one letter, which is terrible for deduction.

The letter family problem

That is actually the problem and it occurs quite frequently in case of four letters.

For example, pattern _ILL provides you with the following options: BILL, DILL, FILL, GILL, HILL, KILL, MILL, PILL, SILL, TILL, WILL. Eleven common words that differ from each other with only the first letter and you have three attempts left.

###Same occurs for patterns like:

In case of five letter words you would be able to separate this family with only one attempt. In case of four letters the space is just too narrow and you won't be able to do that. And if you spend three guesses figuring out that the family exists, you are playing the odds.

The opener problem

And opener becomes even more difficult.

In case of five letters, you would use words like CRANE or SLATE, which provide you with two vowels and three strong consonants. In case of four letters you won't be able to achieve this level anymore. One of them has to be sacrificed and you get less information.

Reasonable four-letter openers include RATE, LANE, SALT, TORE and LEAN. Each of them provides you with one or two vowels and two or three common consonants, which is the best compromise available. But none of them is as good as CRANE in case of five letters.

Why it is still useful

Despite all of that, four letters still deserve to be in your rotation.

It teaches you to sacrifice your guesses. As was mentioned above, letter families occur extremely often in four letters and you have to learn how to do this. It is a skill transferable to five letters, where it is rare but important.

It is quick. Four letter word takes you less than a minute. That makes it an ideal length for timed mode. If you play for scores in timed mode, you would get significantly better scores as shorter words solve faster and type faster.

It is the correct step from children. With three letters you get simple words, with four letters you get blends and digraphs, which is a natural progression from three letters to kids learning reading.

It reveals your bad habits. Players relying on having one guess as a spare to waste would realize how dangerous this habit is here.

How to play four letters

Do not use words designed for five letters as your openers. Make a deliberate choice of four letter opener.

Identify the family early. If your second guess gives you a common ending like ILL, ACK or ATE, give up solving the word immediately and test different first letters from your candidates. It feels like you have wasted one guess. It is the only way.

Remember that four letter words have doubled letters very often. BOOK, FEEL, BALL, EGGS, MOON. Just one orange tile hides this combination and it is the most common reason for players running out of guesses with the answer right in front of them.

Use hints whenever the family is closing up. Two hints are available for every word and in case of four letters, a single revealed letter might solve your problem entirely.

Trying it

You can change the length of the word in the settings on https://wordleunlimited.dev/, between three and seven, and it will affect any mode. Twenty attempts at four letters and twenty attempts at five is the fastest way to prove the point to yourself, as most people expect to be more efficient with four letters and they aren't.

If you want to see the true power of the lesson, try four letters in hard mode, where sacrificing guess is not allowed and letter families become absolutely brutal.
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