Guess the word: a word puzzle in 6 tries

One hidden word, six guesses

This guess the word game takes a few minutes a day. You have six tries to find a hidden word of 5, 6, 7 or 8 letters. After each guess, every tile shows a color and a shape that tell you whether the letter is in the right spot, somewhere else in the word or not in it at all.

The answers are everyday English words: nouns, adjectives and a few verbs, with no names, no slang and nothing rude. Spellings were chosen to be the same in British and American English, so you will not lose a game over color or colour. There are more than 1,200 answers across the four lengths. The game runs in your browser, with no account.

How to play

1. Pick a "Mode": "Word of the day" or "Free play".
2. Set the "Word length" from 5 to 8 letters.
3. Type a word on your keyboard or tap the on-screen QWERTY keys, then press "Enter". The ⌫ key deletes the last letter.
4. Read the tiles. Blue with a small square: "right spot". Orange with a small dot: "in the word, wrong spot". Slate gray with no mark: "not in the word". The on-screen keyboard uses the same colors.
5. Keep guessing until you find the word or use up all 6 tries.

Every guess must be a real word of the right length. A word that is not in the dictionary is rejected and does not cost you a try.

How repeated letters are scored

Letters in the right spot are marked first. Then each remaining letter turns orange only while the hidden word still has an unmatched copy of it. Take the answer APPLE and the guess PUPPY. The P in third place is blue, because APPLE has a P there too. The first P is orange, because APPLE has a second P in another spot. The last P is gray: APPLE has only two. U and Y are gray as well.

Good opening words

Your first guess is mainly a way to test common letters. In English words, E, A, R, I, O, T, N, S and L come up most. Five-letter openers such as CRANE or RAISE cover several of them; for six letters, try a word like ORANGE.

On the second guess you can either play five fresh letters to rule out as much as possible, or keep the blue letters fixed and move the orange ones around. Watch for common endings such as -ER, -LY, -ING and -TION in longer words, and save J, Q, X and Z for last.

Word of the day, free play and hard mode

The "Word of the day" is the same for every player on a given date, with one daily word for each length. It is worked out from your device's date, with no server, and changes at midnight. The list is gone through in a fixed order, so a daily word does not come back for several months. Your daily game is saved on this device: reload the page and your guesses are still there.

"Free play" picks a random word as often as you like with "New free game". Leaving a game you have started counts as a loss and shows the answer.

Tick "Hard mode (revealed hints must be used)" before your first guess. Any blue letter must then stay in place, and every orange letter must appear in your next guesses.

Share your result and track streaks

When a game ends, "Share result" copies a grid of colored squares with no word and no letters, followed by the page address. "Statistics on this device" shows games played, wins, win rate, current streak, best streak and how many guesses each win took.

FAQ

Why is my guess rejected?

Either it is not in the game's dictionary or it does not have the right number of letters. Names, abbreviations and hyphenated words are not accepted. Plurals and verb forms such as RAISED are fine.

Does everyone get the same word of the day?

Yes, for the same date and the same length. Someone whose device has already reached tomorrow in another time zone will see the next word.

Can I play if I am color blind?

The game does not use red or green. Blue and orange stay apart for most kinds of color blindness, and each result also has its own shape: a square, a dot or no mark. Screen readers announce the result for every letter.

Are my stats sent anywhere?

No. They stay in your browser's storage on this device. "Reset" clears them.