The best game like Wordle is Quordle, followed by Connections and Waffle. The 17 others below cover every direction a short daily word habit can go: boards stacked in twos and sixteens, guesses scored by meaning instead of letters, whole phrases and Wikipedia articles to uncover, and letter grids you rearrange rather than guess.
Wordle is one hidden word, six tries, and a new puzzle each day. We ranked these 20 on how closely each one delivers that: a puzzle small enough to finish over coffee, feedback that narrows the answer with every try, and a reason to come back tomorrow. Reviews and ratings settled the close calls. All 20 have a free daily puzzle, checked on each game’s own site or store page on November 8, 2026, and we note the ones with paid extras. We left out The New York Times’ Spelling Bee and The Mini, since the Times keeps most or all of them behind a subscription, along with Absurdle and Kilordle, which have no daily puzzle, and any word game you have to buy.
20. Pinpoint
Platforms: Browser, plus the LinkedIn app on iOS and Android (released May 2024).
Pinpoint swaps Wordle’s hidden word for a hidden category, which LinkedIn describes as uncovering “the hidden connection in this thought-provoking word pattern game.” It has the right size and the right free price, and LinkedIn’s games page offers more once you finish: Crossclimb is a trivia ladder of words, and Wend has you weaving through them. It ranks last because there are no letters to work out, and a job-networking site is an odd place to keep your morning puzzle.
19. Knotwords
Platforms: iOS and Android (released April 2022). There is no browser version.
Knotwords comes from Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger, and its store art promises a free daily puzzle with no ads. You arrange the letters in each section of the grid so that every word is valid across and down, and each puzzle has only one solution. The thrill is pure deduction: this letter cannot go here, so that one must, the same chain of logic that makes Minesweeper hard to put down. It sits low only because nothing is hidden and nothing is guessed, and because you need a phone to play it.
18. Puzzmo
Platforms: Browser, plus iOS (app released May 2025).
Puzzmo calls itself “the place for thoughtful puzzles,” and it works as a daily playlist more than a single game: Cross|word, Mini Cross|word, SpellTower, Really Bad Chess, FlipArt, Pile-Up Poker and Flipflop Solitaire. Only the first three scratch the Wordle itch, which is what holds it down here. What it does better than almost anything else on this list is the ritual, since one site hands you a set of fresh puzzles every morning. It is free to play, with an optional Puzzmo+ membership and a paid way to remove ads.
17. Typeshift
Platforms: iOS and Android (released March 2017). We found no browser version.
Typeshift predates the whole daily word boom, and its App Store page sums it up as “Anagrams meets Word Search, with a sprinkle of Crosswords.” You slide columns of letters up and down to spell words in the center row, and you finish by using every letter. Its free daily challenge has global leaderboards and starts easiest on Monday, getting harder through the week, which gives it a rhythm Wordle never had. There is no secret word, so it ranks here as a companion to your daily guess rather than a substitute.
16. Blossom
Platforms: Browser, on Merriam-Webster’s site.
Blossom gives you seven letters and only 12 words to make from them. Longer words score better, and bonus letters and pangrams earn extra, so each word becomes a small gamble on whether you can squeeze out something bigger. It is the best answer here if Spelling Bee was the Times game you hoped to play for free, though the pull is different from Wordle’s: you chase a score, with no single right answer waiting at the end.
15. Redactle
Platforms: Browser.
Redactle calls itself “The Daily Wikipedia Game” and explains itself in one line: “An entire Wikipedia article, blacked out. Guess words to uncover it and name the title.” It takes Wordle’s process of elimination and scales it up from five letters to thousands of words, so that one good guess can light up a whole paragraph. The moment the subject finally clicks is as good as any on this list. An article is far more text than a five-letter word, though, so set aside longer than one cup of coffee, which is why it stops at 15.
14. Antiwordle
Platforms: Browser.
Antiwordle turns the whole idea inside out, with one instruction: “Avoid guessing the hidden word in as many tries as possible.” Finding the answer is how you lose, so the best run is the longest one, and every color that would help you in Wordle becomes something to steer around. There is a new game every day, and it works best as a chaser after your real puzzle. It is a brilliant joke with a real game underneath, but it asks you to think like Wordle in reverse rather than deliver the same satisfaction, so it lands in the middle of the list.
13. Crosswordle
Platforms: Browser.
Crosswordle borrows Wordle’s color language and pours it into a crossword grid. All the letters are already on the board, scrambled: you swap them into place, and green marks a correct letter, yellow one that belongs in that word at another spot, and grey one that belongs in another word. Each puzzle can be solved with six swaps to spare. Daily 7×7 and 9×9 boards come in Classic, Sports, Music and Movies flavors, so it also answers anyone looking for a word game themed around something they love. An account is free and optional.
12. Squaredle
Platforms: Browser.
Squaredle calls itself a “daily word building game.” You swipe through neighboring letters in a grid to find every hidden word, and a new puzzle arrives every day with leaderboards to compare against. It sits closer to a word search than to Wordle, but it scratches the same itch of staring at letters until something appears. An optional paid tier, Squaredle Squared, sits on top of the free daily puzzle. It places at 12 because you are hunting for many words instead of cracking one.
11. Polygonle
Platforms: Browser.
Polygonle is Wordle with a head start: “a daily word puzzle with a shape-based clue.” A row of colored shapes stands in for the hidden word before you type anything, so your first guess is already a piece of reasoning rather than a favorite opening word. That single addition changes how the puzzle feels, and it rewards anyone who has played so much Wordle that the opening has become a routine. It ranks behind the games below because the shape clue takes some learning, while the appeal of the original is that it needs no explanation.
10. Phrazle
Platforms: Browser, on Solitaired’s site, plus iOS (app released March 2023).
Phrazle keeps the clue system and stretches the answer into a full phrase. Green is the right letter in the right spot, orange is a letter in that word but in the wrong place, purple is a letter that belongs in another word, and grey is out altogether. That one extra color does a lot of work, because you are solving several words at once and each guess tells you about all of them. A common saying is also a friendlier target than an obscure five-letter word, since you can start guessing the phrase before the letters are all there. A Practice mode sits next to the daily puzzle.
9. Sedecordle
Platforms: Browser.
Sedecordle asks the obvious question about Wordle and answers it to excess: what if there were 16 at once? You get 21 guesses for all 16 words, a unique puzzle each day, and unlimited free practice. Modes such as Sedec-order, Savior and Variations, with words from 4 to 11 letters, keep it from being only a test of stamina. It is the same game with the same colors, which is why it beats most of the list, but a full board takes far longer than the quick puzzle people fell for, and much of the fun lies in surviving rather than in solving.
8. Word500
Platforms: Browser.
Word500 is “a word game for power players,” and it earns the line by taking away the one thing Wordle gives you for free. Each guess gets three colored tiles showing how many of your letters are in the secret word and how many sit in the right position, but the game “only tells you the count.” You work out which letters are which, inside eight attempts or fewer. It is the closest thing to Mastermind on this list, so if Wordle has stopped being difficult, start here. Daily, Practice and Archive modes mean one bad morning is not the end of it.
7. Semantle
Platforms: Browser, plus iOS (app released March 2022) and Android.
Semantle throws out spelling completely. You guess any word and get a similarity score for how close its meaning sits to the secret word, then you follow the numbers like a game of hot and cold. It is a daily word guessing game in the truest sense, and the moment you land on the right neighborhood of meaning is as satisfying as a row of green. The raw scores are harder to read than Contexto’s simple ranking, and a tough day can leave you circling for a long time, so we put it just behind the games that explain themselves faster.
6. Strands
Platforms: Browser, plus the NYT Games app on iOS and Android (released 2024).
Strands comes from the same New York Times games team as Wordle, with the same free daily slot. The Times’ instruction says it all: “Use every letter on the board to find today’s linked words plus their hidden theme.” It has the home-screen convenience of Wordle in the same app, and working out the theme gives it a real moment of revelation partway through. It reads more like a word search with a riddle attached than a guessing game, though, which puts it behind the games that keep your attention on one hidden answer.
5. Contexto
Platforms: Browser, plus iOS (app released April 2023).
Contexto has the cleanest idea on this list. The secret word is number 1, every other word has a rank decided by an algorithm that analyzed thousands of texts, and each guess shows you where it sits, so a smaller number means you are getting warmer. Guesses are unlimited, so it can never end in failure, which makes it one of the kindest games here and a great pick for anyone who found Wordle’s six tries stressful. It trades Wordle’s letter logic for pure association, and that gap alone keeps it from the top three.
4. Dordle
Platforms: Browser, on itch.io (daily puzzles added January 2022).
Dordle is the smallest possible step up from Wordle: two boards side by side, with every guess landing on both. Nothing needs explaining, and the colors mean what they have always meant. It is free in the browser with a daily puzzle added in January 2022, and it holds a rating of about 4.7 out of 5 on its itch.io page. What two boards add is a tiny dilemma, because the guess that finishes one word may do nothing for the other. If you like Wordle exactly as it is and only want a little more of it, stop here. Quordle takes the same idea and makes it into a better puzzle, which is the one reason it finishes behind.
3. Waffle
Platforms: Browser, plus iOS (app released January 2023).
Waffle bills itself as “the waffle-shaped daily word game,” and it speaks Wordle’s language fluently: green and yellow letters, one puzzle a day, and a result that takes minutes. The twist is that every letter you need is already in the grid. You swap pairs of them until all the words read correctly, with a limited supply of swaps, and the ones you have left earn stars. That turns Wordle’s guessing into a puzzle about efficiency, where the smartest move is the one that fixes two words at once. It also gives you definitions when you finish, a weekly Deluxe board and an archive for missed days, which gives you a reason to keep it open after the daily board. It places third because you unscramble the answer instead of discovering it.
2. Connections
Platforms: Browser, plus the NYT Games app on iOS and Android (released June 2023).
Connections is the natural next stop after Wordle, and it sits in the same free daily slot at The New York Times. The screen says it plainly: “Create four groups of four!” Sixteen words wait on the board, each of the four groups shares a common thread, and you can make four mistakes before the game ends. It has no letter logic at all, so on mechanics it is not close. What it copies perfectly is the feeling: one puzzle a day, one small burst of insight, and a result you want to show someone. Several of its words will fit more than one group on purpose, so each puzzle has a trap built in, and the groan when you fall into it is half the fun. Our section on games like Wordle and Connections below has more in this vein.
1. Quordle
Platforms: Browser, on Merriam-Webster’s site (released January 2022).
Quordle is the best game like Wordle because it keeps everything that makes Wordle work and then adds the one thing it lacks: a real chance of losing. You solve four hidden words at once with nine guesses, a new puzzle arrives every day, and each guess lands on all four boards with the green and yellow clues you already know. There is nothing to learn, so anyone who has played Wordle can start immediately.
The extra boards change the thinking, though. Early on, you are hunting for letters across four words at once. Later, you can see the answer to one board, but spending a guess on it means giving up information on the other three, and that trade-off is what Wordle never asks you to make. Nine guesses for four words leaves almost no slack, so a careless opener can sink the whole morning. It stays a short puzzle anyway, and it lives on Merriam-Webster’s site for free, with no download.
If four boards still feel easy, Octordle on the same site doubles it to eight words and 13 guesses, and Sedecordle at number 9 takes the idea as far as it can go.
Games Like Wordle by Platform
- PS5: None. These are browser and phone games with no console versions.
- Xbox: None, for the same reason.
- Nintendo Switch and Switch 2: None. A browser or a phone is the only way in.
- PC: Every game on this list runs in a PC browser with no download, except Knotwords and Typeshift, which are phone-only. For a puzzle game that lasts hours rather than minutes, see our Escape Academy guides.
- Mobile: Every browser game here also opens in a phone’s browser. Apps exist on iOS and Android for Connections and Strands (the NYT Games app), Pinpoint (the LinkedIn app), Semantle, Typeshift and Knotwords, and on iOS for Waffle, Contexto, Puzzmo and Phrazle. For a phone game you check on all day instead of once, try our list of games like Simpsons Tapped Out.
Games Like Wordle and Connections
If Connections is the half of that search you care about, three more games group words the same way, all free in a browser.
- Connections: Sports Edition from The Athletic asks you to “group sports terms that share a common thread,” with a new puzzle each day.
- PuzzGrid offers thousands of user-made grids inspired by the connecting walls of the TV quiz Only Connect, and it promises more red herrings than the Times version.
- Pinpoint at number 20 asks the question in reverse, showing you the words and making you name the category.
Games Like Wordle but Not Words
The daily guessing formula long ago escaped from the dictionary. These are free in a browser, and as a gaming site, we would start with the first one.
- GuessThe.Game: name the video game from its screenshots in six guesses or fewer.
- Framed: guess the movie from six frames.
- Bandle: guess the song, one instrument at a time.
- Spotle: guess the music artist in ten tries.
- Worldle: guess the country from its shape.
- Globle: find the mystery country in as few guesses as possible.
- Nerdle: the math version, with more than 20 related games around it.
- Immaculate Grid: a daily baseball trivia grid from Sports Reference.
- Poeltl: guess the mystery NBA player in eight guesses.
- Pips: The New York Times’ daily dominoes puzzle.
- Krillion: seven prompts a day, the same for everyone, where rare answers score better than obvious ones.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the closest game to Wordle? Quordle, which uses the same rules and colors on four boards at once. If you want something closer still, Dordle does the same with only two.
What are the best free games like Wordle? Quordle, Connections and Waffle lead our list, and every one of the 20 has a free daily puzzle. A few, such as Puzzmo and Squaredle, sell optional extras on top.
What are the best daily games like Wordle? All 20 give you a new puzzle every day. Quordle is the best overall, Connections is the best if you want something other than letters, and Waffle keeps the green and yellow tiles in a new shape.
What are good games like Wordle and Connections? Connections itself comes first, then Connections: Sports Edition and PuzzGrid for more word grouping. Strands sits alongside them in the same New York Times app.
Are there games like Wordle but not with words? Yes. GuessThe.Game does it with video game screenshots, Framed with movie stills, Bandle with songs, Worldle and Globle with countries, and Nerdle with math.
What are the best games like Wordle on your phone? All the browser games on our list open on a phone with no download. For a true app, the NYT Games app has Connections and Strands, and Knotwords and Typeshift are built only for phones.
What are the best games like Wordle for music, movies, geography, or sports? Bandle and Spotle cover music, Framed covers movies, Worldle and Globle cover geography, and Immaculate Grid and Poeltl cover baseball and basketball.