How do you play the word guess game?
A 5-letter word is hidden. Type a real word as your first guess and press Enter, and every letter is marked: filled in and ticked if it is in the right place, light with a dot if the word has it somewhere else, grey if the word doesn't have it. Use the marks to narrow it down. You have 6 guesses, and a new word every game.
The letters on the on-screen keyboard take the best mark each has had so far, so you can see which letters are still worth trying. You can type on a real keyboard too.
How are repeated letters marked?
A letter is marked only as many times as the hidden word has it. Letters in the right place are marked first; then each remaining copy in the answer marks one more guessed copy as elsewhere in the word. Any extra copies are marked grey:
| Guess | Hidden word | Marks (✓ right place, • elsewhere, – not in it) |
|---|---|---|
| SPEED | ERASE | • – • • – |
| EERIE | CRANE | – – • – ✓ |
| ABBEY | BABES | • • ✓ ✓ – |
In the second row, CRANE has one E, and it is in the last place, so only that E is ticked; the other two are grey even though E is in the word.
What is the best first word?
Against this game's 2,003 possible answers, RAISE is the best first guess by one simple measure: it leaves the fewest answers still possible, on average, after its marks are in. No word you can type does better. A first guess full of vowels does worse than you might expect:
| First guess | Answers still possible, on average |
|---|---|
| RAISE | 50.6 |
| SLATE | 58.4 |
| CRANE | 64.7 |
| ADIEU | 105.2 |
| AUDIO | 166.8 |
| FUZZY | 766.7 |
These figures are worked out from the word list itself: each first guess is scored against every answer, and the answers it can't tell apart are counted. Common letters in common places split the list best; rare letters like Z and doubled letters split it least.
Where do the Word Guess Game's words come from?
The hidden word is one of 2,003 common 5-letter words, taken from SCOWL, the word lists spell checkers are built on, and leaving out plurals and past tenses made from shorter words (CAKES, BAKED). Any of 8,595 real words is accepted as a guess, from the ENABLE word list and SCOWL, so you are never told a real word doesn't count.
Is this Wordle?
No, though it is the same kind of game. Wordle was made by Josh Wardle in 2021 and bought by The New York Times in 2022; it gives one word a day. This game is the site's own: its own word list, its own code, and as many words as you like. For the same idea with colours instead of letters, try the Code Breaker Game; for changing one letter at a time, the Word Ladder.