Word Guessing Game

How to play the word guessing game

Find the hidden five-letter word in 6 guesses. Type a common English word and press Enter, or tap the on-screen keys. Each letter of your guess gets a mark: ✓ means the letter is in the right place, ◆ means it is in the word but somewhere else, and — means that copy of the letter is not in the word. The keyboard keeps the strongest mark each letter has earned so far. When the round ends, the game shows the word with a one-line meaning, so every answer teaches you something. There is no timer and no sound; Escape pauses.

Reading the clues in the word guessing game

Here is a real round from the practice set: the answer is TRAIN (Connected rail vehicles, or to practice a skill) and the guess is CRANE.

C is not in the word; R is in the right place; A is in the right place; N is elsewhere in the word; E is not in the word. The next guess should keep the two letters in place, move N to a new position and leave out C and E.

Repeated letters in the word guessing game

44 of the 200 answers (22%) contain a letter twice, so a repeat is always possible. The rule: exact matches are counted first, then each remaining copy in your guess is marked “elsewhere” only while the answer still has an unmatched copy of that letter.

The answer is WRITE, which has one E. The guess AGREE has two. The last E is in the right place, so it takes the only copy, and the other E is marked “not in the word”. A — on a letter does not always mean the letter is absent: here it means “no more copies”.

With SPOON as the answer, the guess BONGO gets two ◆ on its O’s: the answer has two O’s and neither guess O is in a right place, so both count as “elsewhere”.

How the 200 words are chosen

The answers are 200 curated, common five-letter English words, each stored with a short meaning written for the game. Your guesses are checked against a larger list of 2,579 words. That list is not every English word: if a word is not in it, or has fewer than five letters, the game says so and the guess does not count against you. Across the 200 answers the most frequent letters are A, E, R, C, L, O, and the most common first letters are C, B, A, F, D.

Daily word and practice

• Daily word: one word per UTC day, the same for every player, chosen from the 200 answers by the date. A new word starts at 00:00 UTC. A daily round you have already opened keeps its own date, even after midnight.
• Practice: all 200 words, each with its own saved board, so you can stop and come back to any of them.
• Saving: progress stays in this browser. The game’s save tools can export a backup and restore it later.

Tips for the word guessing game

• Open with a word that uses several of A, E, R, C, L, O without repeats; it tests the most likely letters at once.
• Treat ◆ as two facts: the letter is in the word, and not in that spot. Move it, don’t drop it.
• Keep ✓ letters where they are and stop spending guesses on letters marked — unless a repeat is still possible.
• When three or four letters are fixed, list the words that fit before you type; a careless guess wastes one of six.

Word guessing game FAQ

Is this word guessing game free?

Yes. It runs in your browser with no account, no download and no purchases.

How is this word guessing game different?

Every answer comes with a short meaning written for the game, the marks use symbols as well as colors, and all 200 practice words are open next to the daily word, each on its own saved board. There are no ads, no sign-up and no hint button.

How many guesses do I get?

Six. A word that is incomplete or not in the game’s list does not use one.

Can I undo a guess?

No. A guess is final once you press Enter. Until then, Backspace removes letters, and a word the game does not accept is turned away without costing a guess.

Are there difficulty levels?

No. All 200 answers are common five-letter words, and the daily word comes from the same list.

Can the answer have the same letter twice?

Yes. 44 of the 200 answers do. Clues only mark as many copies as the answer actually has.

When does the daily word change?

At 00:00 UTC. Everyone gets the same daily word, and a round you have started keeps its date.

Can I play more than one word a day?

Yes. Practice has all 200 words, each saved on its own board.

Is my progress on my other devices?

Not automatically. Progress stays in the browser you play in. Use Export save in the game’s save tools, then Import it in the browser on your other device.

What if I get stuck?

There are no hints. Look at the on-screen keyboard to see which letters are still unused, write down the words that keep every ✓ letter in place, and see the word guessing game tips for which words to try. A practice board stays saved, so you can come back to it later.