A fragment of something; a particle; a piece; also, a very small amount.
A long, narrow piece (especially of fabric) cut or torn off; a strip; specifically, a piece of cloth or clothing. A thin strand or wisp, as of a cloud, mist, etc. A thin strip of fruit peel, a vegetable, etc., cut so that it curls.
A thin strand or wisp, as of a cloud, mist, etc.
To cut or tear (something) into long, narrow pieces or strips. To destroy (a document) by cutting or tearing into strips or small pieces that cannot easily be read, especially using a shredder. To cut (fruit peel, a vegetable, etc.) into thin strips that curl. To separate (something) into small portions. To reduce (something) by a large percentage; to slash. Chiefly in rock and heavy metal: to play (a musical instrument (especially a guitar) or a piece of music) very fast and in a way that requires technical skill. To cut through (snow, water, etc.) swiftly with one's snowboard, surfboard, etc.; to move or ride along (a road, track, etc.) aggressively and rapidly. To convincingly defeat (someone); to thrash, to trounce. To cut or sever (something) into two parts. To chop or cut (something) into pieces. To cut, lop, or strip (branches, etc.) off; also, to cut (a piece) from something. To prune or trim (a tree, a vineyard, etc.).
“There isn’t a shred of evidence to support his claims.”
SHRED is a 5-letter word with 1 vowel (E) and 4 consonants (S, H, R, D). Every letter is distinct, so it rarely punishes a clean opening guess.
It leans on high-frequency letters (S, R, E), 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, E appears in 50% of answers (the 1st most common letter), R appears in 37% of answers (the 3rd most common letter), S appears in 28% of answers (the 7th most common letter). 41 other answers share the opening “SH-”, so two purple 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 SHRED 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.
