Word guessing games like Wordle, Quordle, and Spelling Bee give players partial information after each guess — correct letters in known positions, letters present but misplaced, and letters that are absent. A pattern matcher converts that information into a shortlist of candidates, dramatically narrowing down the possible answers without spoiling the puzzle.
This tool uses two wildcard characters: ? matches exactly one unknown letter, and * matches one or more unknown letters. A pattern like cr??e matches "crane", "crave", and "crime". A pattern like m*ch matches "march", "match", "mulch", and "munch". Matched wildcard positions are highlighted in orange in each result.
The word list is drawn from the tabatkins/wordle-list project — 5,714 five-letter words from the original Wordle game, filtered for family-friendly use. The list is fetched once and cached in your browser. Because it targets Wordle-style games, it covers common five-letter words well but may not include rare or archaic words found in other crossword puzzles.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do ? and * mean in the pattern?+
? matches exactly one unknown letter. * matches one or more unknown letters (it expands to fill the remaining positions up to 5 letters total). Use ? when you know the position; use * when you know a prefix or suffix but not how many letters fill the middle.
Can I use this for Wordle?+
Yes. After each Wordle guess you learn which letters are correct and in the right position (green) or present but misplaced (yellow). Enter the greens as literal letters and use ? for unknown positions to narrow down possibilities. For example, if you know the word starts with "cr" and ends with "e", try cr??e.
Why does it only return 5-letter words?+
This tool is specifically designed for 5-letter word puzzles like Wordle. The word list (5,714 common 5-letter English words from the tabatkins/wordle-list) contains only 5-letter entries, and the input is capped at 5 characters. For variable-length unscrambling, use the Word Unscramble tool instead.
What word list does this tool use?+
The word list is sourced from the tabatkins/wordle-list project, which contains 5-letter words used in the original Wordle game, filtered for family-friendly use. It contains 5,714 words and is loaded once from the server and cached in your browser.
Related Tools
How to use
- Enter a 5-letter pattern using known letters, ? for one unknown letter, or * for one or more unknown letters.
m*chmatches march, match, mulch, munch… —m?tchmatches match, mutch.?ightmatches fight, light, night, right, sight… —cr??ematches crane, crave, crime.- Unknown letter positions are highlighted in orange in each result.