1. Lock green positions
Write confirmed letters exactly where they belong and use question marks for unknown spaces. A pattern like ?A?E? means A must be second and E must be fourth.
Several clues, one shortlist
Word Pattern Solver for Green, Yellow and Gray Letters
Use this solver when a board has moved beyond one simple condition. Combine fixed green positions, required letters, gray exclusions and yellow letters that cannot return to rejected squares, then filter Wurdella’s current playable four- and five-letter dictionary in the browser.
Enter your board patternInteractive board filter
Build the pattern your tiles show
Use question marks for unknown squares, then add required, excluded or misplaced letters only when the board has proved them.
Load a worked example:
Matches for ?A?E?
27 words- BAGEL
- BAKER
- CABER
- CAMEL
- CAMEO
- CAPER
- EAGER
- EASEL
- GABEL
- GAVEL
- HALER
- HAVEN
- HAZEL
- LABEL
- LASER
- LATER
- LAYER
- MAZER
- PANEL
- PAPER
- PAREU
- PATER
- RANEE
- RATEL
- RAVEL
- WAGER
- WATER
How to turn a board into solver rules
A useful pattern solver should preserve every fact the board has given you without adding assumptions of its own. Start with fixed positions, then add required letters, then exclude letters that are genuinely absent, and finally record yellow-position restrictions.
2. Require yellow letters
A yellow T says two things at once: T exists in the answer, and it cannot stay in the square where it was tested. Preserve both facts.
3. Exclude only what is truly absent
A normal gray tile can be excluded globally. Duplicate-letter guesses need more care because one gray copy may simply mean there is no second copy.
Worked example: reducing a family without losing evidence
Suppose a five-letter board has A fixed in position two, E fixed in position four, T confirmed somewhere but rejected from position one, and S ruled out entirely. The correct translation is ?A?E? as the pattern, T as a required letter, T1 as a misplaced position and S as excluded.
The important part is that the solver does not need to know your guesses. It only needs the surviving facts. That makes the result easier to audit: if a candidate looks wrong, check which rule was entered incorrectly instead of guessing which prior row caused the mismatch.
Repeated letters are quantity problems
If one E is green and another E is gray, the board has usually rejected the extra copy rather than every E. Keep the confirmed E and avoid excluding E globally. If the surviving answer must contain two copies, repeat the letter in the required field so the filter can enforce quantity.
A shortlist is not a prediction
Every result satisfies the filters you entered and belongs to Wurdella’s dictionary. That does not mean each result is equally likely to be an answer, or that the solver knows hidden answer selection. It is a constraint tool, not a probability oracle.
Which Wurdella tool matches the problem?
| Tool | Best input | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern Solver | Several green, yellow and gray constraints | Reduce a live board to valid candidates |
| Word Finder | One broad pattern such as starts with S | Browse permanent lists and letter statistics |
| Word Unscrambler | A rack of letters without fixed positions | Find exact anagrams or constructible words |
| Frequency Analyzer | A shortlist you already have | Compare letter coverage within that family |
A practical solver workflow
- 1. Enter every confirmed green position.
- 2. Add required yellow or otherwise confirmed letters.
- 3. Add yellow-position exclusions.
- 4. Exclude letters only when the board truly rules them out.
- 5. Review the candidate family for repeated-letter cases.
- 6. Use the Frequency Analyzer if several candidates remain.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Word Pattern Solver do?
It filters Wurdella’s playable four- and five-letter dictionary using fixed positions, required letters, excluded letters and yellow-letter position exclusions.
How do I enter green letters?
Put confirmed letters directly into their fixed positions and use question marks for unknown positions, such as ?A?E?.
How do I enter a yellow letter?
Add the letter to the required field and also block the position where it was shown yellow. A yellow T in position two becomes a required T plus a T2 misplaced-position rule.
How should I handle repeated letters?
Treat quantity separately from existence. If one copy is confirmed and another copy turns gray, do not automatically exclude the letter entirely.
Does the solver know which answer is most likely?
No. It returns words that satisfy the filters and belong to Wurdella’s dictionary. It does not use hidden answer probabilities.
How is this different from Word Finder?
Word Finder is best for browsing one permanent condition such as a starting letter or ending. Pattern Solver is for combining several pieces of board evidence at once.
Browse when you have one clue; solve when you have several.
Use Word Finder for broad permanent lists, the Unscrambler for mixed racks and the Frequency Analyzer when the board has already been reduced to a small candidate family.