Games like Wordle for your daily puzzle habit
Connections, Strands and Spelling Bee from The New York Times are the closest daily games to Wordle. For more guessing, Quordle and Octordle run several Wordles at once. You can also make your own word game on Roam, with your friends' names as answers.
How Wordle works and where to play it
Wordle was made by Josh Wardle, a software engineer, as a game for his partner. It went public in October 2021, and The New York Times bought it in January 2022. You get six tries to guess a five-letter word. Green means right letter, right spot. Yellow means right letter, wrong spot.
Everyone gets the same word each day, which is why people share their grid of colored squares. The official game is on the New York Times website and in the NYT Games app.
Daily puzzles from The New York Times
- Connections. Sort 16 words into four groups of four. Launched in 2023. The purple group is usually the trickiest.
- Strands. A word search with a hidden theme. Find the theme words and the spangram that runs across the board.
- Spelling Bee. Make words from seven letters, always using the center one. Find the pangram for bonus points.
- The Mini Crossword. A five-by-five crossword that takes a minute or two.
More Wordle-style games
- Quordle. Four Wordles at once with nine guesses. Launched in 2022 and bought by Merriam-Webster in 2023.
- Octordle. Eight words at the same time. A longer daily session.
- Waffle. All the letters are on the board already. Swap them into place with a limited number of moves.
- Semantle. Guess the secret word by meaning, not spelling. Each guess shows how close you are.
- Worldle. Guess the country from its outline in six tries.
Make your own daily word game with Roam
Roam is a free iPhone app. You describe a game in a sentence and it comes back playable. That makes a custom Wordle easy: the answers can be inside jokes, friends' names or words from a class you are studying. Change the rules by asking, like more tries, a timer or a two-player race.
A few twist ideas: the loser of each round picks the next word. The letters are emoji. Both players race on the same word and see each other's colors, but not letters.
More on Roam
Make your own word game with Roam
Type the rules and the word list. Roam builds the game, and you can send it to friends so everyone plays the same puzzle.
Try: "word guessing game, six tries, the answers are my friends' nicknames, two-player race, loser picks the next word"Questions people ask
Is Wordle still free?
Yes. The daily Wordle is free on the New York Times site and app. Some extras, like the Wordle archive, need a Games subscription.
What is the game like Wordle with four words?
Quordle. You solve four Wordles at once in nine guesses.
What is the NYT game with groups of four?
Connections. You sort 16 words into four hidden groups.