RECAP
Yes, RECAP was the Wordle answer on September 21, 2022 (Wordle #459).
As an opener, it rules out about 94.9% of possible answers.
Meaning and pronunciation
Pronunciation: /ɹiːˈkæp//ˈɹiːkæp/
- Verb
-
To seal (something) again with a cap.
“They're planning to recap those oil wells permanently.”
- Verb
-
To replace the worn tread on a tire by gluing on a new outer portion.
“They buy a lot of camelback because they recap a lot of truck tires for trailer fleets.”
- Noun
-
A tire that has had new tread glued on.
“He refused to buy recaps because he didn't trust them not to come apart on the highway.”
- Noun
-
A recapitulation.
“Before we begin with today's agenda, Alice will give us a recap of recent decisions.”
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: September 21, 2022 (#459).
See the full page for that puzzle: September 21, 2022 (#459).
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 RECAP performs as a guess
RECAP 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 86.8% of games, misses completely in 13.2%, and leaves about 121 possible answers on average.
In the previous complete opener benchmark, it ranks #1,866 of 14,855 openers, averaging 3.62 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 RECAP 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 RECAP 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 RECAP in 4 guesses.
Feedback distribution
RECAP can come back 110 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 RECAP; 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 RECAP
What the solver recommends next for each way the board can respond to RECAP.
Quick reference
Largest feedback groups after playing RECAP:
Research on RECAP
Game-tree analysis and word research for RECAP, with an explanation for each figure.
Optimal play
Opening with RECAP, a proven-optimal strategy averages 3.66 guesses and ranks #2,039 of 14,855 legal openers. The best proven opener, TARSE, averages 3.55.
In hard mode it averages 3.76 guesses at best and is rank #402 of the 7,453 openers that can still guarantee a solve within six guesses.
Our six-turn simulation says 3.62, 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.
How it sounds
Two syllables, stress on the first syllable Say it REEKAP.
Related meanings
In WordNet's sense inventory, RECAP is a kind of summary or tire.
Synonyms review
Familiarity and learning
- Frequency
- RECAP sits in the intermediate band of the wordfreq scale, appearing about 3 times per million words of written English; the band marks it as a word most readers meet regularly.
In a sentence
Let me recap what was said.
Let's do a quick recap.
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).