How to play Five Guesses
The colours are hints, not the word.
- Green: your word has this letter in this exact spot.
- Yellow: your word has this letter, but in a different spot.
- Grey: your word does not have this letter.
- ACircle: your word has this letter in this exact spot.
- ATriangle: your word has this letter, but in a different spot.
- ANo shape: your word does not have this letter.
Many words can be right. Any real five-letter word that fits all the hints works.
SHARP works: it has A in the same spot, contains R somewhere else, and has no C, N, E.
Tips for solving clues
- Start with green tiles. Fixed letters cut the options fastest, so build the word around them first.
- Use yellow tiles to place letters. A yellow letter must appear in your word, but not in the spot shown.
- Grey does not always mean absent. If a letter is grey and also green or yellow elsewhere, the word contains it only as many times as the coloured tiles show.
- Look at the shape of the word. Common endings, double letters and vowel pairs narrow a five-letter pattern quickly.
- Try Hard mode when you are comfortable. Every Hard clue has exactly one fitting word.
Daily, Word hunt and Hard modes
Daily gives you five puzzles that are the same for every player and reset at midnight UTC. Word hunt gives everyone the same single clue each day and asks you to find every word that fits, against the clock. Hard mode gives you as many clues as you like, each with exactly one fitting word. All modes keep their own progress in your browser, and your daily streak counts the days you finish the full set.
Guides
Rules, strategy and mode explanations for Five Guesses.
Questions and answers
What is Five Guesses?
It is a free word puzzle. Instead of guessing a hidden word over six rows, you get one coloured clue and have to find a word that fits it.
Can a clue have more than one answer?
Yes. Any word from the word list that produces exactly the same colours is accepted. The game tells you how many other words would have worked once you solve it.
What is Hard mode?
Hard mode uses clues where exactly one word in the word list produces those colours, so you have to find one specific word. You can play as many as you like, and it keeps its own puzzle.
What is Word hunt?
Word hunt shows one clue per day, the same for every player. Find as many words as you can that produce those colours. The counter shows how many words fit, and your score is the words found and your time. It resets at midnight UTC.
When does the daily set reset?
At midnight UTC. The countdown on the page shows the time left until the next set.
Is my progress saved?
Progress, stats and settings are saved in your browser on this device. They do not sync between devices and are lost if you clear site data. No account is needed.
Does Five Guesses cost anything?
No. It is free and needs no account or download.