Words strategy: how to solve all six words
Words hides six words a day, one of each length from 3 to 8 letters, and one of them is a themed word with a hint. Solving all six takes more than luck: the best players choose their first guesses on purpose, read every color for what it rules out, and know when a guess should collect clues instead of trying to win. This guide walks through those habits.
Pick a first guess with common letters
Your first guess knows nothing, so its only job is to collect clues. A word with five different, common letters tests five letters at once; a word with a repeated or rare letter wastes some of that chance.
In English the most common letters are E, T, A, O, I, N, S, R and H, so good openers mix two or three vowels with R, S, T, N or L. Some examples by length:
- 3 letters: TEA, RAN
- 4 letters: TONE, RATE
- 5 letters: RAISE, STONE
- 6 letters: SILENT, TRAINS
- 7 letters: ROASTED
- 8 letters: RELATION
Read every color for what it rules out
A green letter is solved: keep it in that spot. A yellow letter is in the word, but not where you put it, so it rules out one spot and you should move it. A gray letter is not in the word at all, so never type it again.
Players often lose a try by putting a yellow letter back in the same spot, or by reusing a gray letter in a hurry. Before each guess, check it against everything the board already told you.
Spend a guess on new letters when you're stuck
Imagine you know four letters of a five-letter word, _IGHT, and many words fit: LIGHT, MIGHT, NIGHT, RIGHT, SIGHT, TIGHT. Guessing them one by one can use all your tries.
Instead, type a real word that tests several of the missing first letters at once, like one with L, M, N and R. It can't be the answer, but its colors tell you which of the candidates is left, and the next guess wins. Any real word of the right length is accepted, even one that can't be the answer.
Short words and long words need different plans
Three-letter words are tricky because many differ by a single letter: TIP, SIP, LIP, HIP, DIP. That's why the 3-letter word gets one more try than the 4-letter word. Use the tries to test new letters early rather than guessing neighbors one by one.
Long words are the opposite. Seven or eight letters give many clues per guess, and English and Portuguese long words follow patterns (endings like -TION, -ING, -MENTE or -ÇÃO), so they often fall in three or four tries once the ending is clear.
The themed word: read the hint first
One of the six words is the themed word. It comes with a hint about the day's theme but has fewer tries than a normal word of the same length. Read the hint before you guess, and list a few words that fit it and have the right length.
Because tries are short, make the first guess both a theme word and a good letter test. Many players leave the themed word for last, after warming up on the other five.
Tips for playing in Portuguese
Accents don't matter: type C-A-F-E for “café” and the game finds it. Ç counts as C, so “coração” is typed C-O-R-A-C-A-O, and a green tile shows the real accented letter.
Portuguese words often end in vowels, in -S for plurals, or in verb endings like -AR, -ER, -IR, -ADO and -ANDO. Good openers by length include RIO, RATO, SERIA, SENTAR, ORIENTA and CORTINAS: many different, common letters.