What is Keyword?
Keyword is a small daily word puzzle from The Washington Post that borrows a little from crosswords and a little from Wordle. On the board are six short words, each with one letter missing. The six gaps line up, and the letters that fill them spell a single six-letter word: the keyword. You guess one letter at a time. A right letter locks into place and helps you with its neighbours; a wrong one costs you a guess, but you can try again. A perfect game uses only six guesses, one per gap, and every extra guess counts against your score. The fun is in the back-and-forth: a gap that could be almost anything on its own suddenly becomes obvious once you have a few letters of the keyword. It is quick, gentle and good for a coffee break, and it suits people who enjoy spotting words from fragments, the way you do in a crossword when only a few squares are filled.
How to play
- Each of the six words has one missing letter. The gaps form one row.
- Guess letters to fill the gaps. Correct letters stay; wrong ones cost a guess.
- Spell the six-letter keyword in as few guesses as possible. Six is perfect.
Quick facts
- Typical time
- 1–3 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Price
- Free to play in the browser.
- Account
- A free Washington Post account saves your scores and unlocks a weekly bonus round.
- Past puzzles
- Free. Earlier weeks open from “See all games” and can be played in full.
- On a phone
- Works in your phone's browser. Nothing to install.
- Perfect score
- Six guesses: one for each missing letter.
Tips to get better
- List the options before you type. Each gap could take several letters when you look at it alone. Go through all six rows and note what could fit each one.
- Solve the rows and the keyword together. The six missing letters spell a real word. Look for a six-letter word that your options can make. It usually settles the rows you weren't sure about.
- Start with the tightest row. Find the word where only one or two letters could possibly fit, and fill that gap first.
- Think about how six-letter words are built. Many start with RE- or UN-, or end in -ER, -ED, -LE or -LY. Once you have two or three letters of the keyword, test those shapes.
- Take ten more seconds. A perfect game allows no wrong letters at all. Check your keyword against all six rows before you type the first letter.
Who it's for
Anyone who wants a tiny word puzzle with their coffee will like Keyword. It's quicker and gentler than Wordle, and going for a perfect six gives it just enough bite. Most days it's easy, so strong solvers may want more. It comes from an American newspaper, but the words are everyday ones.
