How to play

How to play Quordle

Four hidden five-letter words, one guess at a time, nine guesses in total. Every guess is scored on all four boards at once.

1. Type any five-letter word

   It has to be a real word. The same guess lands on all four boards, and each board scores it against its own hidden word.

2. Read the colours per board

   Green: right letter, right place. Yellow: in that word, wrong place. Grey: not in that word. The same letter can be green on one board and grey on another.

3. Read the keyboard

   Each key is split in four quarters in the same order as the boards. A quarter turns green or yellow as you learn about that board. A key that's grey on every open board goes dark.

4. Pick a board to attack

   Under each board, 'N left' tells you how many answers still fit. Go for the board that's nearly done, or play a probing word that splits the biggest field.

5. Finish all four in nine

   A solved board collapses behind a check and its keyboard quarters clear. When all four are solved, or the guesses run out, every row expands so you can read the game back.

A worked start

Say the four words are STONE, TORSO, BRUNT, HEATH (you don't know that yet) and you open with CRANE, then SLOTH. Here is what each board shows:

• Board 1 (STONE): CRANE put N and E green at the end, SLOTH added S green at the front and O green in the middle, with T yellow. Only a handful of words fit S·O·NE with a T: STONE is one guess away.
• Board 3 (BRUNT): R green in second place, N green in fourth, T yellow but not in fourth. Think _R_N_ with a T elsewhere: GRUNT, BRUNT, TRUNK.
• Board 2 (TORSO): nothing green yet, but S, O, T and R are all yellow. That's four of the five letters known, in the wrong places.
• The keyboard now shows C and L dark (grey on every board), and R with a green top-left quarter and a yellow top-right one.

A good third guess is one that settles board 1 while testing letters for the others: STONE itself. If it's right, board 1 collapses and you still learn from S, T, O, N and E on boards 2 and 4.

Strategy tips

• Open with two probes. Two words that cover ten common letters (CRANE and SLOTH, or STARE and CLOUD) light up every board before you commit.
• Watch the numbers. A board with 1 or 2 left is a free solve; take it. A board with dozens left needs a probing word, not a guess.
• Count your guesses. Nine guesses for four words means you can spend at most two probes; after that every guess should be a real attempt at some board.
• Don't waste a guess on a solved letter. Once a board's quarters clear, a letter that was only useful there is dead weight.
• Read the review. After the game, a ✗ marks a guess that barely narrowed anything. Tap it to see what would have worked.

Try a practice puzzle

Same rules, nine guesses, unlimited hints. Nothing here is saved.