Accepted guess Not a possible answer B tier for first-turn info

COTAN

COTAN is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.

No dictionary definition for COTAN is recorded in our sourced data.

As an opener, it rules out about 94.5% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

We do not have a sourced definition for this word yet.

Check COTAN on Wiktionary or report a missing entry.

Wordle status

A word can be a playable guess without being a possible answer.

Playable guess

Yes

Included in the Wordle guess list used by our tools.

Possible answer

No

The solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.

Past Wordle answer

Not used yet

No past answer date found.

The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.

How COTAN performs as a guess

Wordle accepts COTAN as a guess, but the solver does not list it as a possible answer.

Played as an opener, it lands at least one colored tile in 84.9% of games, misses completely in 15.1%, and leaves about 130 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #273 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.57 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.

All gray? Tap a tile to cycle gray → yellow → green.

First-turn measures

All four describe COTAN 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.

5.18 Entropy (bits)
130 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
94.5% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 91% of evaluated openers
0.76 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How COTAN 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.

3.57 Avg guesses
99.92% Solved within six
0.69 Spread of game lengths
#273 Rank among openers
Opening with COTAN left 2 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.69 means those games clustered within about 0.69 of a guess of the 3.57 average. It ranks #273 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
77
3 guesses
1,037
4 guesses
1,068
5 guesses
155
6 guesses
15
Top-ranked in the current bounded policy screen: SLANT. The policy minimizes misses within six first, then average guesses among wins (3.46 for the leader). Compare the ranking measures

Composition

5/5 unique
2 vowels
Common:
ANOT

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
85%
Green tile
33%
All gray
15%

Feedback distribution

COTAN can come back 123 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

359 answers
271 answers
162 answers
113 answers
109 answers
106 answers
105 answers
62 answers
56 answers
54 answers
54 answers
49 answers
45 answers
41 answers
38 answers
37 answers
34 answers
32 answers
29 answers
27 answers
26 answers
26 answers
24 answers
24 answers
23 answers
23 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
16 answers

Letter-value totals

Base letter-value totals for COTAN; these do not show whether either game accepts the word.

Scrabble

C3O1T1A1N1
Total: 7 points

Words With Friends

Total: 9 points

Scores shown are base values without double/triple letter or word bonuses.

Strategy after playing COTAN

What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to COTAN.

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing COTAN:

15% chance
Suggested:
SILER
11% chance
Suggested:
GLARE
7% chance
Suggested:
SHIER

Follow-ups for common patterns

Ranked follow-up guesses for the 10 most common feedback patterns.

15.1%
SILER 6.04 bits
11.4%
GLARE 5.36 bits
6.8%
SHIER 5.67 bits
4.8%
SIDEY 5.21 bits
4.6%
DROLE 4.63 bits
4.5%
PLORE 5.01 bits
4.4%
REAST 4.76 bits
2.6%
SLIDE 4.40 bits
2.4%
SERAL 4.49 bits
2.3%
SHOER 4.47 bits

Research on COTAN

Game-tree analysis and word research for COTAN, with an explanation for each figure.

Optimal play

Opening with COTAN, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.63 guesses and ranks #844 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

No guaranteed hard-mode solve In hard mode, no strategy that opens with COTAN can guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.57, at or below the proven-optimal 3.63, 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.

How it sounds

Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it KOHTUHN. Estimated pronunciation

This pronunciation is machine-estimated, not taken from a pronunciation dictionary.

Related meanings

In WordNet's sense inventory, COTAN is a kind of function.

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model; Word relations: Open English WordNet, 2025 edition (CC BY 4.0).