EARLY

Meaning

At a time in advance of the usual or expected event.

“at eleven, we went for an early lunch;  she began reading at an early age;  his mother suffered an early death”

• adjectiveArriving a time before expected; sooner than on time.
• adjectiveAfter but close to the start of a period of time.
• nounA shift (scheduled work period) that takes place early in the day.

EARLY as a word-puzzle answer

EARLY is a 5-letter word with 2 vowels (E, A) and 3 consonants (R, L, Y). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.

It leans on high-frequency letters (E, A, R), 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.

EARLY by the numbers

Across the 1,734 curated answers in the Wordocious bank, E appears in 50% of answers (the 1st most common letter), A appears in 40% of answers (the 2nd most common letter), R appears in 37% of answers (the 3rd most common letter). 6 other answers share the opening “EA-”, 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.

Near misses

Same letters, different order: RELAY, LAYER — yellow-heavy boards can be hiding one of these anagrams instead.

Put it to use

Words like EARLY 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.