Word Grid
How to play Word Grid
Sixteen letters, one rule: words are paths. Move from cell to adjacent cell — any of the eight directions, diagonals included — and never land on the same cell twice in one word.
- Words are three letters or longer.
- Trace with a finger or mouse and release to submit, tap cells one by one and tap the last cell again, or type the word and hit enter — typed words are checked for a legal path too.
- The QU tile is one cell, two letters — it counts as both toward length and score.
That's the whole game, and there is deliberately no clock on any of it. Find six words while your tests run, spot a seven-letter monster on a lunch-break epiphany, and let the grid sit open in between.
Scoring and the growth ladder
Three- and four-letter words score 1 point; five letters score 2; six score 3; seven score 5; eight or more score 11. The long words are worth hunting — one eight-letter find outscores a dozen short ones.
As points accumulate you grow: Seed → Sprout → Seedling → Sapling → Grove → Thicket → Forest. The word counter and every threshold are built from the grid's common words only — the ones an everyday vocabulary can actually find — with Forest at 60% of their total score. That's the day's win. Rarer real words are still accepted, score their points toward your climb, and land in your list with a rare find sparkle: deep vocabulary is a shortcut up the ladder, never a requirement.
Tips
- Sweep the suffixes. Every verb you find probably has -S, -ED and -ING siblings sitting on the same tiles: find RATE, then check RATES, RATED. The -ER and -EST corners pay too. One good stem is usually three or four words.
- Hunt prefixes from every cell. RE-, UN-, DE- and IN- openings turn short finds into long ones — spot TIRE and the R-E behind it might be RETIRE waiting.
- Work the dense corners. A cluster of common consonants around a vowel (N, T, R, S around an E) is where the word families live. Park your eyes there and permute.
- Anchor on the odd letters. A K, V or W can only make so many words — checking its few patterns is fast, and what you find there is usually a word nobody else's eyes caught.
- Guess freely. A rejected word just shakes and clears — there's no penalty, and the validity dictionary is generous. If it might be a word, trace it.
- Stuck? Take the free hint. "Show one I missed" reveals a common word at no cost. It won't score, but it often exposes a whole family of neighbors that will.
A grid that waits for you
The daily grid is the same for every player and flips at local midnight. Nothing counts down: your found list saves in your browser after every word, so closing the tab mid-trace costs nothing — that's the whole design. When the day rolls over, yesterday's full answer list is one click away, so no missed word haunts you for long. Prefer a private hunt? Free play deals a fresh grid any time, and a challenge link can send a friend the exact same board.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules of Word Grid?
You get a 4×4 grid of letters. Build words of three letters or more by moving from cell to adjacent cell — sideways, up and down, or diagonally — without using the same cell twice in one word. You can trace a path with your finger or mouse, tap cells one at a time, or just type the word and press enter; a typed word only counts if a legal path for it exists on the grid. There is no timer: the daily grid stays open all day and your found words are saved in your browser.
How is Word Grid scored?
Three- and four-letter words score 1 point, five-letter words 2, six-letter words 3, seven-letter words 5, and anything eight letters or longer scores 11 — the classic scoring ladder for grid word games. As your score grows you climb a growth ladder: Seed, Sprout, Seedling, Sapling, Grove, Thicket, and finally Forest at 60% of the grid's total common-word score, which counts as the day's win.
Is Word Grid the same as Boggle or Word Hunt?
It plays in the same genre — letter grid, adjacent-cell paths, no reused cells — and the letter distribution comes from the same classic public-domain dice math. The big difference is pace: there is no three-minute clock and no opponent. Word Grid is built for grazing, so a daily grid is something you wander back to all day rather than sprint through once.
What does the word counter in Word Grid mean?
The counter, like '18/41 words', tracks the grid's common words — the findable words an everyday vocabulary can realistically get, which is also what the score targets are built from. Obscure-but-real words are still accepted and score points; they show up separately as rare finds with a sparkle, a bonus on top of the targets rather than part of them.
What does the Qu tile mean in a word grid game?
One die face carries QU as a single tile, because a Q without a U is nearly unplayable in English. The tile counts as both letters in one step: tracing through it adds 'qu' to your word, and both letters count toward the word's length and score — QUICK is a five-letter word that needs only four cells.
Is there a new Word Grid puzzle every day?
Yes — one shared daily grid, the same for every player, changing at local midnight, with at least 40 common words guaranteed. Your found list persists across visits all day, yesterday's answers are one click away, and there's also a free-play mode that deals a fresh random grid whenever you like.
Do hints cost points in Word Grid?
No. The 'show one I missed' button reveals one common word you haven't found, completely free — no score penalty, no timer tax. The revealed word just doesn't score and doesn't count toward your word counter; it's marked as shown in your list. Use it whenever a grid goes quiet on you.
More games
- Daily Hive — Seven letters, one required center — find every word you can. A spelling-bee-style daily with a guaranteed pangram and bee ranks from Egg to Queen; one shared puzzle a day, graze it between prompts.
- Word Ladder — Climb from one word to another changing a single letter per rung, every rung a real word. Par revealed when you solve, free undo all the way down, and a shared daily ladder.
- Hangman — Classic classroom hangman on a chalkboard — guess the word in six misses before the chalk snowman is erased. Everyday words, a shared daily, no gallows in sight.