POUND
Yes, POUND was the Wordle answer on August 7, 2021 (Wordle #49).
As an opener, it rules out about 89.4% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ˈpaʊ̯nd/[ˈpʰaʊ̯nd]/ˈpæʊ̯nd/
- Noun
-
A unit of weight in various measurement systems.
- Noun
-
A unit of mass in various measurement systems.
- Verb
-
To confine in, or as in, a pound; to impound.
- Verb
-
To strike hard, usually repeatedly.
Alternative forms: poun, pown
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: August 7, 2021 (#49).
See the full page for that puzzle: August 7, 2021 (#49).
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 POUND performs as a guess
POUND 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 71.4% of games, misses completely in 28.6%, and leaves about 253 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #2,815 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.63 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 POUND 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 POUND 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 POUND in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
POUND can come back 93 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 POUND; 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 POUND
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to POUND.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing POUND:
Research on POUND
Game-tree analysis and word research for POUND, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with POUND, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,381 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 POUND can guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.63, at or below the proven-optimal 3.66, 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, POUND is a kind of unit or symbol.
Synonyms beat ram hammer lb poke lumber
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- POUND sits in the common band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 21 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as an everyday word almost every player will know.
- Learner level
- Appears in intermediate learner vocabulary (CEFR-J level B1); a word learners usually reach after the basics.
- Age of acquisition
- Typically learned around age 7, by Glasgow Norms speaker ratings.
- Imageability
- Imageability score: 76 of 100. Raters found it easy to picture.
In a sentence
Can I have half a pound?
It is sold by the pound.
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; Glasgow Norms (CC BY 4.0).