PECAN
Yes, PECAN was the Wordle answer on January 7, 2026 (Wordle #1663).
As an opener, it rules out about 94.3% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /piːˈkɑːn//pɪˈkɑːn//ˈpiːkæn/
- Noun
-
A deciduous tree, Carya illinoinensis, of the central and southern United States, having deeply furrowed bark, pinnately compound leaves, and edible nuts.
- Noun
-
A smooth, thin-shelled, edible oval nut of this tree.
Alternative forms: paccan, peccan
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: January 7, 2026 (#1663).
See the full page for that puzzle: January 7, 2026 (#1663).
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 PECAN performs as a guess
PECAN 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 85.9% of games, misses completely in 14.1%, and leaves about 135 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,356 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.61 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 PECAN 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 PECAN 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 PECAN in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
PECAN can come back 111 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 PECAN; 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 PECAN
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to PECAN.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing PECAN:
Research on PECAN
Game-tree analysis and word research for PECAN, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with PECAN, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.65 guesses and ranks #1,695 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 PECAN can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.61, at or below the proven-optimal 3.65, 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 second syllable Say it PUHKAHN.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, PECAN is a kind of wood or tree.
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- PECAN sits in the advanced band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about once per million words of written English; the band marks it as an uncommon word many players still recognize.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 10, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 75 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
- Dominant sense
- Lancaster raters associated it most strongly with taste (4.4 of 5).
In a sentence
He hates pecan-flavored anything.
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); Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0); Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms (CC BY 4.0).