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

MESCA

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

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

As an opener, it rules out about 94.1% of possible answers.

Meaning and pronunciation

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

Check MESCA 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 MESCA performs as a guess

Wordle accepts MESCA 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 86.9% of games, misses completely in 13.1%, and leaves about 141 possible answers on average.

In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #3,404 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.64 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 MESCA 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.

4.92 Entropy (bits)
141 Avg remaining
0.0% Exact match
94.1% Avg ruled out
Higher first-turn entropy than about 79% of evaluated openers
1.03 bits below the highest measured first-turn entropy (~5.95 bits)

As an opening guess: previous benchmark

How MESCA 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.

3.64 Avg guesses
99.96% Solved within six
0.68 Spread of game lengths
#3,404 Rank among openers
Opening with MESCA left 1 of the snapshot's answers unsolved after six guesses. A spread of 0.68 means those games clustered within about 0.68 of a guess of the 3.64 average. It ranks #3,404 of 14,855 openers by average guesses in games solved within six.
1 guess
0
2 guesses
66
3 guesses
906
4 guesses
1,194
5 guesses
175
6 guesses
12
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:
AES

Feedback chances

Any hit (G/Y)
87%
Green tile
25%
All gray
13%

Feedback distribution

MESCA can come back 100 different ways. These are the most likely, and how many of the possible answers give each one:

311 answers
285 answers
239 answers
150 answers
150 answers
106 answers
99 answers
89 answers
63 answers
56 answers
51 answers
50 answers
44 answers
44 answers
42 answers
28 answers
26 answers
25 answers
24 answers
21 answers
21 answers
21 answers
21 answers
19 answers
18 answers
17 answers
16 answers
16 answers
16 answers
15 answers

Letter-value totals

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

Scrabble

M3E1S1C3A1
Total: 9 points

Words With Friends

Total: 11 points

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

Strategy after playing MESCA

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

Quick reference

Largest feedback groups after playing MESCA:

13% chance
Suggested:
DROIT
12% chance
Suggested:
RIONE
10% chance
Suggested:
TALON

Follow-ups for common patterns

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

13.1%
DROIT 5.67 bits
12.0%
RIONE 5.20 bits
10.1%
TALON 5.29 bits
6.3%
SNOUT 5.08 bits
6.3%
LARGE 4.72 bits
4.5%
SPIRE 4.69 bits
4.2%
DETER 4.32 bits
3.7%
SLANT 4.83 bits
2.7%
COULD 4.71 bits
2.4%
CAIRN 4.41 bits

Research on MESCA

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

Optimal play

Opening with MESCA, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.68 guesses and ranks #3,310 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.

In hard mode it averages 3.81 guesses at best and is rank #1,567 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.

Our six-turn simulation says 3.64, at or below the proven-optimal 3.68, 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 MEHSKUH. Estimated pronunciation

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

Sources: Optimal-play values: Alex Selby's exhaustive Wordle analysis (MIT); Pronunciation: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (BSD), with machine estimates from the g2p_en model.