How to play Word Guess
A secret word is hidden behind a row of blank spaces, one space for each letter. Your job is to uncover it by guessing letters. Choose a category from the menu first: Animals, Countries, Food, Sports or Nature. The message under the word reminds you of the category and how many letters it has.
Pick a letter by clicking or tapping it on the on-screen keyboard, or simply type it. Then one of two things happens:
- If the letter is in the word, every copy of it appears in its place and the key turns green.
- If the letter is not in the word, the key turns dark red and one of your six balloons pops.
Each letter can only be guessed once, so used keys are locked. Reveal every letter before the last balloon pops and you win the round. Lose all six balloons and the round ends with the full word shown, so you always learn the answer.
Every word you solve adds one to your Streak. A lost round sets it back to zero, and so does skipping or switching category after you have started guessing. Your Best streak is saved in your browser. Words in a category do not repeat until you have seen all of them. Press Next word or Enter to carry on.
Controls
| Desktop | Click a letter on the on-screen keyboard or type it on your keyboard. Press Enter to move to the next word once a round ends. |
|---|---|
| Mobile | Tap letters on the on-screen keyboard. Use the menu to change category and tap New word to skip ahead. |
Tips and strategy
Start with vowels
Almost every English word contains at least one of A, E, I, O or U, so vowels are the safest opening guesses. E and A are the most common. Two or three vowel guesses usually reveal the rough shape of the word without costing many balloons.
Move on to common consonants
After the vowels, the consonants that show up most often in English are letters like T, N, S, R and L. Guessing these early fills in a lot of blanks. Rare letters such as Q, X, Z and J are best saved until the pattern clearly calls for them.
- Good early guesses: E, A, O, I, T, N, R, S, L
- Useful middle guesses: C, D, H, M, P, U, G
- Late or pattern-only guesses: J, K, Q, V, X, Z
Use the category and the length
The category narrows things down a lot. A seven-letter country and a seven-letter animal lead to very different lists. Before each guess, try to think of real words that fit the letters you already have, then choose a letter that appears in several of them.
Look for familiar endings and pairs
- Many words end in patterns such as ING, ER, ON or IA.
- Double letters are common, as in APPLE, PARROT or SOCCER, so a revealed letter may appear twice.
- Pairs like TH, SH, CH and CK often travel together.
Protect your streak
When only one or two balloons remain, slow down. Stop guessing letters that merely might fit and pick the letter that appears in the most candidate words. If you really cannot tell, a common consonant is usually a better bet than a rare one. Remember that skipping a word after you have started guessing also resets the streak, so it is often worth finishing the round.
About Word Guess
Guessing a hidden word letter by letter is a long-standing pencil-and-paper pastime, often played between two people with one choosing the word and the other calling out letters. It is popular in classrooms because it quietly practises spelling, vocabulary and letter frequency while feeling like a game.
Word Guess is our own browser version, built from scratch for PlayNook. Instead of drawing a figure, it uses a friendly bunch of six balloons tied to a gift box, and one balloon pops for each letter that is not in the word. The computer picks the secret word from five family-friendly categories, each with more than forty common words, and shuffles them so you work through a whole category before any word comes back. It runs entirely in your browser, needs no download or account, and remembers your best winning streak on your device.
Frequently asked questions
How many wrong guesses do I get?
You have six balloons, and each letter that is not in the word pops one. The round is lost when all six are gone.
Will the same word come up again?
Not straight away. Each category is shuffled, and you see every word in it before any word repeats.
What resets my streak?
Losing a round, pressing New word after you have started guessing, or changing category mid-word all reset your current streak to zero.
Is my best streak saved?
Yes. Your best streak is stored in your browser on this device, so it is still there next time unless you clear your site data.
