How Squaredle works
The numbers on the tiles, the two word lists, and why some days are harder than others.
Trace a word
Press a letter and drag through neighbouring tiles — up, down, sideways or diagonally. A tile can be used once per word. Four letters minimum.
Or just type it
The keyboard works too. Type the letters and press Enter. Space switches between two routes that spell the same word; Escape clears what you've started.
Letting go outside the board still submits — the word you drew is the word you get.
Finish the list
The puzzle is complete when every word on the list is found. Anything else real you spot along the way still counts — see below.
Reading the board
- Tint
- The more words still hiding on a tile, the warmer it looks. The board cools as you find them.
- Top right
- How many unfound words still run through this tile.
- Bottom left
- How many unfound words start here — the one that tells you where to put your finger down.
- Grey
- Nothing left here. Every word that used this tile has been found.
Both numbers can be switched off in Settings if you'd rather work without them.
The list, and everything else
Every real word in the grid is in the puzzle. The list is what you must find to finish. Extras are all the others — and they score exactly the same.
Nothing real is ever rejected for being "not a word". If it's English and it's in the grid, it counts.
Scoring
A four-letter word scores 1, and every letter after that adds one. So BOAT is 1 and BOATERS is 4.
Words you reveal with a hint score nothing. They finish the board; they don't pad the number.
Hints, and reveals
Four free hints, each its own tick-box, none of which names a word: first letters, first two, last letter, and a map of what's left by starting letter and length.
Reveals are earned: one to begin with, one more for every eight words you find unaided, up to five.
The week gets harder
Two things move together: the grid grows, and the words are drawn from deeper in the language.
| Day | Grid | Words | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 4 × 4 | 12–20 | Gentle |
| Wed | 4 × 5 | 24–36 | Steady |
| Fri | 5 × 5 | 42–60 | Hard |
| Sun | 5 × 6 | 60–80 | Brutal |
Two puzzles a day
Standard is the main board and grows through the week. Express is a fixed 3 × 3 — a few minutes rather than half an hour.
Streaks
Each mode keeps its own streak, and each lapses on its own. Miss a day and it goes back to zero — but your best is kept.
Questions
I found a real word and it wasn't accepted.
Three letters and under never count, in any grid. Otherwise the tiles probably aren't adjacent — letters must touch, including diagonally — or one was used twice in the same word.
Why is that word only an extra?
The list is the everyday half of the grid's vocabulary: words a dictionary lists in lower case and that are common enough to be fair. Extras score identically, so nothing is lost either way.
What happens if I press "End puzzle"?
The words you hadn't found are filled in so you can see them, marked as revealed. They score nothing, and the day doesn't count towards your streak.
Why did my streak reset?
A streak counts consecutive days finished. Miss one and it starts again — but your best is kept, and Standard and Express are counted separately.
When does the puzzle change?
3am US Pacific, the same moment for everyone in the world. If you're mid-board when it turns over, your board stays put until you choose to move on.
Can I play yesterday's puzzle?
Not yet. The archive is coming, and it will be part of a paid tier.
Does my progress follow me between devices?
Not yet — everything is stored in the browser you play in, so clearing your site data clears your streak too. Accounts are on the way.
Can I make it harder?
Turn the tile numbers off in Settings and work from the tints alone, or leave the hints untouched and clear the extras as well as the list.