diff --git a/components/reasoning-workspace.jsx b/components/reasoning-workspace.jsx
index 4ab312f..8b5719c 100644
--- a/components/reasoning-workspace.jsx
+++ b/components/reasoning-workspace.jsx
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ function hasGenuineCompletion(graph) {
 function CompletionCard({ summary }) {
   return (
     <div className="rounded-lg border border-green-300 bg-green-50 px-5 py-6 text-center">
-      <h2 className="mb-1 text-sm font-bold uppercase tracking-wide text-green-700">Investigation complete</h2>
+      <h2 className="mb-1 text-sm font-bold uppercase tracking-wide text-green-700">All questions explored</h2>
       <p className="text-base text-gray-800 mb-3">The available evidence supports the following understanding.</p>
       {summary && (
         <div className="mt-4 text-left rounded-md bg-white/60 px-4 py-3 border border-green-100">
@@ -2014,7 +2014,7 @@ export default function ReasoningWorkspace({
                                   <p className="mt-1.5 text-xs leading-snug text-gray-500">{node.description}</p>
                                 )}
                                 <div className="mt-2 flex items-center gap-3">
-                                  <span className="text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wider text-green-600">Clarified</span>
+                                  <span className="text-[10px] uppercase tracking-wider text-green-600">Explored</span>
                                   <button
                                     onClick={() => {
                                       const nextGraph = reopenResolvedUnknown(graph, node.id);
diff --git a/docs/current-handoff.md b/docs/current-handoff.md
index d852e80..fa4ded0 100644
--- a/docs/current-handoff.md
+++ b/docs/current-handoff.md
@@ -999,3 +999,50 @@ Returns JSON-serializable record with: five deconstruction arrays (`observations
 **Targeted test:** NOT IDENTIFIED
 **Playwright heading:** PASS
 **Playwright Re-open:** PASS
+
+### Iteration 5 — Remove misleading finality language (2026-10-26)
+
+**Type:** Targeted UI copy change. Zero live LLM calls. Zero behaviour change.
+
+**Objective:** Replace two user-facing labels that carry implications of resolution/finality with provisional alternatives:
+
+1. `"Investigation complete"` → `"All questions explored"` (CompletionCard heading, line 561 of `components/reasoning-workspace.jsx`)
+2. `"Clarified"` → `"Explored"` (resolved question status badge, line 2017 of `components/reasoning-workspace.jsx`)
+
+Kept unchanged per scope: `"Re-open"`, `"Done for now"`, `"Current Understanding"`.
+
+**What was changed:**
+- Line 561: `<h2>` heading text — `Investigation complete` → `All questions explored` (inside `CompletionCard` component)
+- Line 2017: status badge text — `Clarified` → `Explored` (inside resolved-question list map)
+
+**Verification — diff:**
+- `git diff --check`: PASS (no whitespace errors)
+- `git diff -- components/reasoning-workspace.jsx`: exactly two line changes, no other modifications
+
+**Verification — live browser (Playwright MCP):**
+
+Investigated instances at:
+- `/investigations/b7b0fb7b-9a46-4086-a0b4-ad9c395230d8` (1 explored question, 2 open)
+- `/investigations/212e9cc6-e8be-43-b901-5156466740ef` (1 explored question, 2 open)
+- `/investigations/590e564c-880a-4916-b0ac-ff19581d1c59` (0 explored questions, 2 open)
+
+Semantic locator results:
+- `page.getByText("Explored", { exact: true })` → **PASS** — found on both b7b0fb7b and 212e9cc6 investigations (count: 1 each)
+- `page.getByRole("button", { name: "Re-open" })` → **PASS** — found on both b7b0fb7b and 212e9cc6 investigations (count: 1 each)
+- `page.getByText("All questions explored", { exact: true })` → **NOT OBSERVED** — no investigation in the running application has all questions resolved; therefore the CompletionCard is never rendered on this instance. None of the 8 existing investigations reached full completion.
+
+**Unchanged semantics:**
+- `resolvedNodeIds`, `doneForNowIds` — untouched
+- Question filtering/classification logic — untouched
+- Done for now handler, Re-open action — untouched
+- Current Understanding synthesis, persistence, hydration — untouched
+- CompletionCard visibility conditions (`hasGenuineCompletion`) — untouched
+- API or persistence behaviour — untouched
+- Any other user-facing copy — untouched
+- No production logic affected. Only two label strings changed.
+
+**Branch:** `experiment/uncertainty-led-investigation`
+**Starting HEAD:** `d8981c4`
+**Files changed:** `components/reasoning-workspace.jsx`, `docs/current-handoff.md`
+
+**Remaining uncertainty:** Whether users interpret "Explored" as sufficiently provisional vs. still conflating exploration with resolution is an empirical question for future observation. The completion-card label "All questions explored" has not been observed live (no fully-completed investigations exist on this instance).