Daily Word Guess rules and tips

A five-letter word game with one new word a day. Here is how the colors work, how repeated letters are handled, and how to pick a strong start.

What the game is

You get six tries to find one five-letter word. Everyone who plays on the same day gets the same word.

After each guess the squares turn green, yellow or gray. Use them to narrow the word down.

There is no account and no timer. One round takes a few minutes.

The rules

Type five letters and press Enter. If the word is not in the list, nothing is spent and you can edit it.

Green means the letter is right and in the right spot. Yellow means the letter is in the word, but in another spot. Gray means the letter is not in the word.

Your result shares as colored squares only. No letters are included, so the answer stays hidden.

Details of this edition

Answers are common five-letter words in US spelling. The answer list has 1,881 words, and 8,783 words are accepted as guesses.

Plurals and past tenses of words already in the list are kept out of the answers, and so are vulgar and hateful words. They can still be typed as guesses if they are in the accepted list.

The word changes at midnight Korea time (KST). You can replay the last 14 days. Replays do not count for the leaderboard or your streak.

Solving today's word puts your try count on the leaderboard, fewer is better. A missed round does not go on the board.

Basic tips

Open with a word that has common, different letters such as a few vowels and letters like R, S, T and N. Repeated letters in a first guess teach you less.

Use the on-screen keyboard. Keys turn green, yellow or gray so you can see what is left.

A yellow letter should move to a new spot in your next guess. Reusing the same spot wastes a try.

How repeated letters are colored

Colors are set in two passes. First every letter in the right spot turns green and is taken out of the answer's letter count. Then, from left to right, a remaining letter turns yellow only while the answer still has one left.

If the answer has one E and you type two, one E can be green or yellow and the other turns gray. A gray letter does not always mean the letter is missing from the word. It can mean you typed more copies than the word has.

When you are stuck

If a real word is rejected, it is probably too rare for the accepted list. Try a more common one.

Your guesses for today stay on this device after a reload. Clearing browser data removes them.

Missed today? The answer is shown with a link to look it up, and tomorrow brings a new word.

Word sources