An attempt to represent oneself as holding a stronger hand than one actually does.
The card game poker.
To frighten, deter, or deceive with a false show of strength or confidence; to give a false impression of strength or temerity in order to intimidate or gain some advantage.
A high, steep bank, for example by a river or the sea, or beside a ravine or plain; a cliff with a broad face.
“John’s bet was a bluff: he bet without even so much as a pair.”
BLUFF is a 5-letter word with 1 vowel (U) and 4 consonants (B, L, F, F). It repeats 1 letter, which is a classic trap — guessers who assume five distinct letters get stuck.
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, L appears in 26% of answers (the 8th most common letter), U appears in 18% of answers (the 12th most common letter), B appears in 11% of answers (the 18th most common letter). 24 other answers share the opening “BL-”, so two purple tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.
Difficulty: 3/5 — moderate, because the repeated letter hides one position.
One letter away in the answer bank: FLUFF. Each of these turns four tiles purple against BLUFF — the classic endgame squeeze where spending a guess on the differing letter beats burning attempts on hope.
Words like BLUFF 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 every mode.
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.
