Now word-guessing is way more exciting, colorful, and grand-scale! Are you ready to test your linguistic prowess? See if you can guess the word of the day and move up the leaderboards with every win!

How to play Wordle?

Look at the screen. What do you see? A grid of empty boxes, 5 wide and 6 long, like a blank canvas just waiting for your wordy masterpiece. Each box is a little home for a letter. Your job is to fill them up with a five-letter word that’ll blow Wordle’s mind!

Basic rules

1. There is a new word every day.
2. There is just one word per day.
3. Everyone is guessing the same word.
4. You have just six attempts at it.
5. It can be a non, pronoun, verb, adjective and even adverb.
6. No plurals when it comes to nouns and no third persons when it comes to verbs (although any tense is good to go).
7. The word can contain repeated letters.

So, how do you kick this thing off? You can shoot your linguistic shot with any word you like. That’s right, no rules at the start! Type in any five-letter word that tickles your fancy and press ‘Enter.’ No clues, no hints, just you and your wild guesses.

Color clues

Now, here’s where the craziness kicks in. After your daring guess, those empty boxes start changing colors like a disco party on New Year’s Eve. What on earth is happening? Don’t worry, the game’s just giving you some hints! Here’s what each of the color means:

• Green – You’ve hit the jackpot! That letter’s in the daily word, and it’s in the right spot. High-five yourself!
• Yellow – Semi-success. The letter’s in the word, but it’s in the wrong place. Try to put it elsewhere.
• Gray – No-show. This letter doesn’t belong in this word (which is a good thing, cause now your search narrows down).

The game goes on until all the letters are in their rightful places and the whole word glows green and cheerful. It can happen early on, or you might pull an epic hit-or-miss last-minute rescue. But if you use up your sixth and last attempt, and you’re still not there – sorry, it’s game over, pal.

The controls

Playing Wordle is really easy (purely in terms of the controls, of course). There is a virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen where you can tap or click the word you have in mind letter by letter. Or you can use your own keyboard and type it in the regular way instead. That’s basically it, nothing complicated. Oh, and the virtual keyboard will also highlight the letters that are in and color off the letters that are out. All for the player’s convenience!

Clash of brains online!

And the best part about Wordle is that you’re not the only one playing it! Countless sleepless eyes are staring into the screens all over the globe now, trying to crack the mystery of another word thrown at them. And although you will never see a prevailing majority of those people, it still feels good to compare your performance against theirs and see yourself in the top tier of Wordle players! Or at least take comfort in the fact that there are those who play Wordle even worse than you (calm down, calm down, you’ll get there, you just need some patience and practice!).

Wordle FAQ

• When is a new word dropped?

Wordle ain’t like Netflix – you can’t binge it all day long. The game’s got a bedtime, and it’s not negotiable. Wordle hits the reset button and starts fresh at 00:00. But hey, if you’re feeling like a real word warrior, you can stay up past your bedtime and tackle that Wordle challenge while the world snoozes away. Or you can start guessing at night, then go to sleep, and continue in the morning – your progress will be saved. The most important thing is to fishing it up by the end of the day.

• What are Wordle streaks?

Sure, tackling the daily Wordle puzzle is like the main course of this linguistic feast, but streaks? Well, that’s the secret sauce that keeps you coming back for seconds, thirds, and maybe even a hundredth helping! So, here’s the deal: Wordle’s keeping tabs on your gaming escapades. How many games have you played? How many have you conquered in a row? That’s your streak, baby. But, here’s the kicker – you gotta keep your eyes on the prize! Miss a game, and that streak you’ve been nurturing like a rare orchid? Poof, it’s gone! Vanished into the digital abyss. So if you’re big on statistics, you’d better go guess that word before the stroke of midnight!

• Are there any modes in Wordle?

If you’re looking for an extra dose of Wordle madness, you can try the Hard Mode. Imagine this: you guess a word, and you nail it! You’ve got a beautiful green ‘S’ in the starting spot. But here’s the kicker – from that point on, you’re locked into starting words with an ‘S.’ No more freedom to pick just any letter. Nope, you’ve got to stick with what you’ve got. And if you strike gold again and find a yellow ‘R’ in your word, every new guess you make has to have that ‘R’ somewhere in there. It’s like a linguistic straitjacket, but it’s a wild ride!

• Is there a time-limited Wordle?

Wanna throw in a bit of adrenaline? Then you need to try Reactle! It’s the same good old Wordle, but with a 3-minute time limit for guessing each word. And unlimited guesses for balance! But there is a catch – every time you type it in wrong, you’re another five seconds short. Yikes!

• How is Wordle Unlimited different from the classic Wordle?

In the classic Wordle, you’ve got just one shot to guess the secret word with those five precious tries. But in Wordle Unlimited, you’re living large with unlimited guesses. You can throw as many words at the wall as you want, and see what sticks. Plus, you can choose to guess words that are shorter or longer than the usual five-letter menu. Think three letters will be any easier? Play and see! And make sure to flex your neurons especially well if you decide to take on a seven-letter one!

Wordle tips for playing and winning

1. Go bold with your first word

Picture this: you’re standing at the Wordle starting line, and the crowd is cheering you on. What do you do? You go big! Pick a starting word that’s like a linguistic firework show—a dazzling mix of vowels and consonants. Be bold, and your chances of cracking the code quickly shoot through the roof.

2. You’re in U.S., not in Britain

Wordle speaks American English, so if you’ve got British tendencies in your wordplay, you better drop those extra U’s and start favoring the American spellings. It’s all about COLOR, not COLOUR, in Wordle land. So, before you hit that ‘Enter’ button with confidence, double-check the spelling. No British quirks here!

3. Load up on vowels

Vowels are your trusty sidekicks in this wordy adventure. Start by knocking out those vowel-heavy words to clear the path for consonants. Get the A, E, I, O, and U out of the way, and watch as your Wordle skills soar! But don’t be a one-trick pony – mix in some regular words when you’re feeling brave.

4. Stick with your starter

Some Wordle warriors swear by their trusty starting word. It’s like their lucky charm, and they ride it into battle every time. So, if you’ve found that magical word that helps you identify all the right letters, stick with it! Consistency is the name of the game.

5. Embrace repeat letters

Don’t shy away from repeating the same letter in a word two, or sometimes even three times. In Wordle, they’re not criminals – they’re your allies! Pretty often, the answer to the puzzle is a word with a few cheeky repeated letters. Don’t let them slip through your linguistic fingers. Give them a shot, and watch those gray boxes turn green!

What other games like Wordle are there?

Ever since it has been released, Wordle has inspired countless clones and variations, including some totally innovative games using the same concept. Some of them challenge you to guess a bunch of words at the same time, some crank things up to a whole square of words, some send you swiping across a letter-packed grid… And some make it about numbers, chess moves, movies, songs… Yeah, there are games where you need to guess a movie by a split-second frame or a song by just a few notes! And even a basketball player by their silhouette. All of these games are gathered here, on this page. You name it, there is probably a Wordle-like game for it! So, put on your guessing hat, sharpen your wits, and plunge into the amazing whirlpool of fun that is Wordle and its likes. It’s going to be a wild guessing ride!