DECAF
DECAF is accepted as a guess but is not on the solver's possible-answer list.
As an opener, it rules out about 92.2% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈdiːkæf/
- Adjective
-
That has caffeine removed.
- Noun
-
A decaffeinated coffee, tea, or soft drink.
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
NoThe solver does not currently treat this as a possible answer.
Past Wordle answer
Not used yetNo past answer date found.
The possible-answer list is the solver's current list and may change when Wordle adds new answers.
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Wordle Observatory · optional
Played this Wordle?
Add your result to the public totals · about 20 seconds
Add your result and a quick difficulty rating to help explain how this puzzle played.
See the public dataThank you. Your result now helps describe this puzzle.
See what the public sample says →How DECAF performs as a guess
Wordle accepts DECAF 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 83.0% of games, misses completely in 17.0%, and leaves about 185 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #6,451 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.69 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 DECAF 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 DECAF 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
Feedback distribution
DECAF can come back 90 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 DECAF; 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 DECAF
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to DECAF.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing DECAF:
Research on DECAF
Game-tree analysis and word research for DECAF, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with DECAF, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.72 guesses and ranks #6,195 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 DECAF can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.69, at or below the proven-optimal 3.72, 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 DEEKAF.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, DECAF is a kind of coffee.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- DECAF sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing less than once per million words of written English; the band marks it as an uncommon word many players still recognize.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with taste (2.9 of 5).
In a sentence
I asked for a decaf.
Did you ask for decaf?
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); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).