Attempt to find the best starting words in Wordle (maximize chance of getting a green letter)

Top 25 "Best" Wordle Openers

cares
saree
sores
seres
bares
soree
soras
cores
sires
sared
ceres
saris
seats
carts
coats
bores
sorts
sanes
caaed
pares
boats
carte
cared
cires
sones

Top 25 "Worst" Wordle Openers

unfix
upbye
xylyl
kudzu
undug
izzat
embow
hajji
exurb
inbox
imshi
infix
idyll
ichor
upbow
ogham
qajaq
oshac
abuzz
zebub
usque
oxbow
ethyl
ewhow
enzym

Wordle.swift

import UIKit

let fiveLetterWords = <#insert wordle word list here#>

var letterFrequency: [[String:Int]] = Array(repeating: [:], count: 5)

for word in fiveLetterWords {
    for (index, character) in word.enumerated() {
        if letterFrequency[index][String(character)] == nil {
            letterFrequency[index][String(character)] = 1
        } else {
            letterFrequency[index][String(character)]! += 1
        }
    }
}

let sortedFreqs = letterFrequency.map { freq in
    freq.sorted { $0.1 > $1.1 }.map { $0.key }
}

var wordScores = [String:Int]()

for word in fiveLetterWords {
    var score = 0

    for (index, character) in word.enumerated() {
        score += sortedFreqs[index].firstIndex(of: String(character)) ?? 26
    }

    wordScores[String(word)] = score
}

let bestWords = wordScores.sorted { $0.1 < $1.1 }.map { $0.key }

for word in bestWords {
    print(word)
}

Updated to use just the words from the wordle word list, not including the whole list for fair use and general "don't be a douche" reasons, but you can view source and grab it yourself.

The "Worst" list is just a tail of the bottom of the list, so the last entry is worst.

Updated using the union of the "answers" list and the "rest of the words that aren't answers" list.