Vowels vs. Consonants in Wordle: Which Should You Hunt First?

By Barbie, Word Junkie · Updated Oct 11, 2026 · 3 min read

One of the oldest Wordle debates goes like this: should you start by finding the vowels, or the consonants? Vowel-heavy openers like ADIEU and AUDIO are famous for a reason, but my own opener, STAIR, has only two vowels. Here's what the numbers say, and how I'd balance the two.

How many vowels does a typical answer have?

I counted the vowels (A, E, I, O and U) in every word of the original Wordle answer list, the 2,315 words built into the game at launch.

Source: the original Wordle answer list as compiled by cfreshman (GitHub gist); counted by Word Junkie.

The headline: most answers have two vowels, and nearly nine in ten have one or two. Only three words in the whole list have four vowels (AUDIO, EERIE and QUEUE), and 13 have none at all.

That tells us something important. Once you've found two vowels, you've probably found all of them. Hunting for a third vowel is usually a poor use of a guess.

What about Y?

Y is the wild card. It acts like a vowel in plenty of words: all 13 of the "no vowel" words in the list rely on it, like CRYPT, GLYPH, LYMPH, NYMPH, TRYST and WRYLY. It's also the second most common last letter, ending 364 words (think HAPPY, FUNNY and EARLY).

So when you're counting vowels, give Y an honorary spot, especially at the end of the word.

The case for vowels first

Vowel-heavy openers do one thing very well: they almost always find something. In my tests on the same list, ADIEU finds at least one letter in 93% of words, more than any other popular opener I checked. If seeing a colored tile on your first row makes you feel calm and confident, that's a real benefit.

The case for consonants

Here's the catch. Finding a vowel doesn't narrow the list very much, because vowels are in almost every word. Knowing the answer contains an A and an E still leaves hundreds of possibilities. Consonants are what split the list into small groups.

Using the same list, I measured how many possible answers are left, on average, after each opener. ADIEU leaves about 124 and AUDIO about 184. Openers with a mix of common consonants and vowels do much better: SLATE leaves about 72, and RAISE about 61. My STAIR sits in between at about 87. You can see the full comparison in Why I start with STAIR.

The reason is that R, T, L, S and N show up in lots of words, but not in almost all of them. That makes them great for telling words apart.

My balanced approach

I aim for a mix: about two vowels and three strong consonants in my first guess, and a second guess that adds one or two new vowels along with fresh consonants.

• Guess 1 (STAIR): tests A and I, plus S, T and R.
• Guess 2, if needed: something like CLONE, which tests O and E, plus C, L and N.

After those two guesses, I've tested four of the five main vowels and six of the most useful consonants. U is the only common vowel left. And since U is in just under 20% of answers, I'm happy to leave it for later.

Using vowel information mid-game

Vowel knowledge really shines in the middle of a game.

• If you've found two vowels, stop hunting for vowels and focus on consonants and positions.
• If you've found only one vowel by guess three, consider a double (like the two Os in BLOOM) or a Y-word.
• If you have no vowels after two guesses, you're probably looking at a U word, a Y word, or both. Words like BUNNY or LUSTY become strong candidates.
• Remember where vowels like to sit. In this list, the second and third positions are dominated by vowels, while E and Y own the last spot.

A note on hints

On our daily hint pages, Hint 2 tells you the number of vowels (A, E, I, O, U) and whether any letter repeats. If you're torn about whether to keep vowel hunting, that one hint can save you a whole guess. Here's how to use our hints without spoiling yourself.

The bottom line

Vowels make you feel good. Consonants do more of the work. Aim for a balance, stop vowel-hunting once you've found two, and keep Y in mind as a part-time vowel. Do that and your middle guesses will get a lot sharper.