What is Quordle?
Quordle takes the familiar five-letter guessing game and multiplies it by four. You see four boards side by side, each with its own hidden word, and every guess you type is played on all four at once. That changes the strategy completely. A guess that is perfect for one board might be wasted on the others, so you are constantly balancing between solving one word and gathering clues for the rest. You get a few more guesses than in the single-word version, but not many, and running out with one board still unsolved is a familiar feeling. Quordle is now run by Merriam-Webster, the American dictionary publisher, as part of its collection of free word games. It is a great next step for anyone who has started to find single-word puzzles a little too easy and wants something that rewards careful planning.
How to play
- Every word you type is guessed on all four boards at the same time.
- Colours on each board work like the classic game: green is right spot, yellow is elsewhere in the word.
- Solve all four words before you run out of guesses.
Quick facts
- Typical time
- 5–10 min
- Difficulty
- Medium–hard
- Price
- Free.
- Account
- Not needed.
- On a phone
- Works in your phone's browser. Nothing to install.
- Guesses
- Nine, for four words.
- More to play
- A practice mode with unlimited games, and variations such as Sequence, where you solve the boards in order.
Tips to get better
- Open with a fixed set of words. Start with two or three words that share no letters. STARE, DOILY and PUNCH test fifteen different letters between them and usually crack at least one board open.
- Don't chase a single board. Every guess colours all four boards. Before each one, ask which word would help the most boards, not just the nearest.
- Play the certain answers. When a board has only one possible word, play it. The guess isn't wasted, because it still tests letters on the other three.
- Count your guesses. Nine guesses for four words leaves five spare. If you've used five and solved nothing, stop exploring and start solving.
- Leave the trap until last. A board with several candidates, such as _OUND, should wait. Guesses aimed at other boards may rule out candidates for free.
Who it's for
Try Quordle when you have Wordle down to a routine and want to be made to think again. It rewards method over inspiration, and you'll lose far more often than in Wordle. The screen is busy, and the boards get small on a phone. If four words aren't enough, Octordle has eight.
