BLUFF

Meaning

An act of bluffing; a false expression of the strength of one's position in order to intimidate; braggadocio.

“That is only bluff, or a bluff.”

• verbTo make a bluff; to give the impression that one's hand is stronger than it is.

BLUFF as a word-puzzle answer

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.

BLUFF by the numbers

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 green tiles up front still leave real guessing to do.

Difficulty: 3/5 — moderate, because the repeated letter hides one position.

Near misses

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

Put it to use

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 all nine.