Here's the deal ... Megan, a high school choir director from California, won the episode of 'WOF' that aired Tuesday, pocketing just over $14k and launching herself into the bonus puzzle round.

Her category ... "Living Thing" -- didn't exactly narrow it down for her. And, the given letters "RSTLNE" didn't really clear things up with the puzzle reading "_ _N_  _R_ _ _ _."

Megan did well, adding three letters to the puzzle before the final round began ... so she was working off "P_N_  _RC_ _ D" for the final, two-word puzzle.

Now, this is where things got dicey ... at the beginning of guessing, Megan definitely says "Orchid" -- ultimately the second word of the puzzle -- though it sounds like she says "Something" or, as some fans speculated, "Pink" before it, which would've given her the right answer, "Pink Orchid."

The judges didn't award her the money -- which turned out to be $40,000 -- and host Pat Sajak said he thought she focused too much on trying to find a certain kind of orchid ... Megan said "Pony Orchid" at one point.

Well, fans of the show lost their damn minds on social media ... basically arguing they felt she clearly said it at the beginning and demanding 'Wheel' hand over the bag.

It's certainly hard to tell exactly what she said to begin her guessing ... but it sounds like "Something" to us -- and Megan reacts unsurprised when she's not awarded the cash -- so maybe everything's above board here.