PuzzleDayHow to play the daily word game
- Type a guess. Enter any five-letter word with your keyboard or the on-screen keys, then press Enter.
- Read the colors. A green tile is the right letter in the right spot. A yellow tile is in the word but in a different spot. A grey tile is not in the word at all.
- Narrow it down. Use what you learned in your next guess. The keyboard keeps track of every letter you have tried.
- Solve it in six. Find the word within six guesses to keep your streak alive, then share your result grid without spoiling the answer.
Strategy: how to get it in three or four
- Open with common letters. The most frequent letters in our five-letter answers are E, A, R, T, S, O, I, L and N — E alone appears in about half of them. Starting words such as crane, slate, trace or arise test several of them at once.
- Use a second word with five new letters if the first guess gives you little — for example slate followed by crony covers ten different letters.
- Think about position. Many words end in -E, -Y, -ER or -CH, and S rarely ends an answer here because plurals are never answers.
- Watch for double letters. If you are stuck, the answer may repeat a letter: sheep, flood, apple.
- Don’t waste guesses on known letters. When several words fit (bake, cake, fake, make…), a guess that tests many of the missing letters at once is often faster than trying them one by one.
Daily or unlimited?
The Daily tab is the same puzzle for every player, which makes it fun to compare results — tap Share result to copy your colored grid. The Unlimited tab deals a new random word every game, so you can practice as much as you like; it keeps its own win rate separate from your daily streak. There is also a dedicated unlimited word game page.
Try a different length
Five letters is the classic. For a quick warm-up, try the 4 letter word game. For a real challenge, the 6 letter and 7 letter versions give you the same six guesses for a much longer word. Prefer numbers to letters? Today’s daily sudoku is waiting too.
Frequently asked questions
When does the daily word change?
Every day at midnight in your own time zone. Each word has a number (#1 was our launch day), so players anywhere can compare the same puzzle.
Is this the same as Wordle?
It uses the same well-known rules: six guesses, green for the right letter in the right spot, yellow for a letter that is in the word somewhere else. It is a separate, independent game with its own word list and is not affiliated with The New York Times, which owns the Wordle trademark.
What words can I guess?
Any real five-letter English word, including plurals and past tenses. The answers themselves are always common everyday words — never plurals, obscure words or proper names.
How do repeated letters work?
Each letter in the answer can only color one tile. If you guess a word with two Es and the answer has one E, only one of your Es turns green or yellow; the other turns grey.
I missed yesterday’s word. Can I still play it?
The daily game always shows today’s word, but you can switch to Unlimited at the top of the board to play as many extra words as you like.
Is my streak saved?
Yes, in your own browser. Your streak, win percentage and guess distribution are kept on this device; nothing is uploaded or linked to an account.