Word of the Day · Saturday, February 10, 2024
/ˈskuːbə/noun
(underwater diving) An apparatus carried by a diver, which includes a tank holding compressed, filtered air and a regulator which delivers the air to the diver at ambient pressure which can be used underwater.
SCUBA is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (U, A) and 3 consonants (S, C, B). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.
It leans on high-frequency letters (S, A), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. There are no rare letters here, so it is a fair, mid-difficulty answer for the daily Classic puzzle.
Across the 1,734 curated answers in the Wordocious bank, A appears in 40% of answers (the 2nd most common letter), S appears in 28% of answers (the 7th most common letter), C appears in 19% of answers (the 10th most common letter). 16 other answers share the opening “SC-”, so two green tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.
Difficulty: 1/5 — very approachable, because its letters are common and no close neighbors compete with it.
Words like SCUBA are exactly what the daily puzzles throw at you. Warm up in Practice, race the clock in the Daily Challenge, or study the best starting words before your next run. New to the multi-board modes? The mode guides cover all nine.
Definitions adapted from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA). Letter statistics, difficulty ratings, and near-miss analysis are original Wordocious research computed from our curated answer list.