COCOA
Yes, COCOA was the Wordle answer on May 9, 2023 (Wordle #689).
As an opener, it rules out about 83.1% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈkəʊ.kəʊ//ˈkoʊ.koʊ//koˈkoʊ.ɐ/
- Noun
-
The dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made.
- Noun
-
An unsweetened brown powder made from roasted, ground cocoa beans, used in making chocolate, and in cooking.
- Adjective
-
Of a light to medium brown colour, like that of cocoa powder.
Source: Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Corrections.
Wordle status
A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.
Playable guess
YesIncluded in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.
Possible answer
YesIncluded among the answers considered by the solver.
Past Wordle answer
Used oncePast Wordle answer: May 9, 2023 (#689).
See the full page for that puzzle: May 9, 2023 (#689).
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
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See what the public sample says →How COCOA performs as a guess
COCOA is a possible answer, so it would solve about one game in 2,374 when every answer is treated as equally likely.
Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 69.2% of games, misses completely in 30.8%, and leaves about 401 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #14,103 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.91 guesses in games solved within six turns.
Try your feedback pattern
Tap the tiles to match your feedback, then see the ranked follow-up guesses.
Useful pattern pages
If you only know part of the word, start with one of these matching patterns.
First-turn measures
All four describe COCOA used as an opening guess. Entropy is the same idea as “avg ruled out” on a log scale: a higher number means the guess splits the possible answers into more, smaller groups.
As an opening guess: previous benchmark
How COCOA performed in the previous complete opener benchmark, against its captured answer snapshot. These research figures are separate from today's solver recommendations. See the data page for the method.
Composition
Feedback chances
Example solver route
One example route used by the solver.
This solver benchmark reaches COCOA in 3 guesses.
Feedback distribution
COCOA can come back 60 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:
Letter-value totals
Base letter-value totals for COCOA; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.
Scrabble
Words With Friends
Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.
Try next
Strategy after playing COCOA
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to COCOA.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing COCOA:
Research on COCOA
Game-tree analysis and word research for COCOA, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with COCOA, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.94 guesses and ranks #14,337 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 4.09 guesses at best and is rank #7,058 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.91, at or below the proven-optimal 3.94, because the two figures score different answer lists.
These figures come from exhaustive game-tree search and are exact for the NYT lists of July 2023 (3,158 answers). They do not use the site's working answer pool.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, COCOA is a kind of drink or food.
Synonyms chocolate
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- COCOA sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 4 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B2); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with taste (4.6 of 5).
In a sentence
Would you like some cocoa?
How about a cup of cocoa?
Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD); Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0); Word frequency: wordfreq (data CC BY-SA 4.0); Learner levels: CEFR-J Wordlist ver 1.5, Tono Laboratory, TUFS; Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).