TOKEN

Meaning

Something serving as an expression of something else.

“According to the Bible, the rainbow is a token of God's covenant with Noah.”

• verbTo betoken, indicate, portend, designate, denote
• adjectiveDone as an indication or a pledge; perfunctory, minimal or merely symbolic.

TOKEN as a word-puzzle answer

TOKEN is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (O, E) and 3 consonants (T, K, N). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (T, O, E, N), so a strong vowel-and-common-consonant opener tends to light up quickly. Watch for the less-common letter K — saving a guess to test it once the vowels are placed is usually the fastest route.

TOKEN by the numbers

Across the 1,734 curated answers in the Wordocious bank, E appears in 50% of answers (the 1st most common letter), T appears in 30% of answers (the 4th most common letter), O appears in 30% of answers (the 5th most common letter). 16 other answers share the opening “TO-”, so two green tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.

Difficulty: 3/5 — moderate, because it uses at least one genuinely rare letter.

Near misses

One letter away in the answer bank: TAKEN, WOKEN. Each of these turns four tiles green against TOKEN — the classic endgame squeeze where spending a guess on the differing letter beats burning attempts on hope.

Put it to use

Words like TOKEN 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.