Word grid game online
Word Grid · Words · 15 levels
A grid of letters. Join letters that touch into words before the time runs out. Longer words add more time and more points.
Free up to level 5, 15 levels in all.
How to play
- Press Start. Drag across letters that touch, sideways or diagonally.
- Each letter counts once per word.
- On a keyboard, type the word and press Enter.
- A word that is not in the word list costs a life, you have three.
A word grid game online, against the clock
This word game will run in the browser and inside Telegram, with nothing to install. You get a small square of letters. Drag across letters that touch, horizontally, vertically or diagonally, to spell a word, then lift your finger to send it. Each cell can be used once per word, though the same letter may sit in two cells. Find the number of words the level asks for before the time runs out.
Longer words add more time and earn more points. Every word adds time to the clock, and a long word adds much more. On a level where the shortest allowed word has three letters, a three-letter word gives you 2 extra seconds and an eight-letter word gives you 12. Joining letters that touch is the same idea as in Boggle. Here every new word also puts time back on the clock.
There are two languages. The game uses the word list of the interface language, English or Ukrainian.
From level 1 to 15
The grid grows from 3×3 on levels 1 to 3 to 4×4 on levels 4 to 9 and 5×5 from level 10.
The shortest allowed word gets longer. On levels 1 to 6 it is three letters, on levels 7 to 12 four, and on levels 13 to 15 five.
The goal and the clock change too. Level 1 asks for 3 words and starts with 90 seconds. Level 12 has the biggest goal, 9 words of four letters or more, and starts with 65 seconds. The last level asks for 7 words of at least five letters and starts with 60 seconds.
Every grid is checked before you see it. The generator picks grids with at least twice as many common words as the level asks for, usually many more, and one long word of six to eight letters is always hidden in it.
Which words count
The English list has about 40,750 words of 3 to 8 letters, based on the SCOWL word lists. Plurals and verb forms count, so cats and jumped are fine. Names, abbreviations and contractions do not.
Offensive words do not count, but they do not cost you anything either, and a grid that contains one is thrown away before you see it.
A word that is not in the list costs a life. A word that is too short, or one you already found, is ignored and costs nothing. When all three lives are gone the level ends and your points are kept.
How the points work
Each word earns 10 points and two bonuses. The speed bonus is up to 10 points and drops by about one point for every second since your previous word, or since Start for the first one. The length bonus is 5 points for every letter above the minimum. On a three-letter level a six-letter word sent within half a second of the previous one is worth 35 points.
Points and your best show how you did in this game. We do not claim that it improves your vocabulary or anything else outside the game.
What is a good result
We have no player norms yet and will not invent them. A fair personal target is to clear a level without losing a life and with time left on the clock. After that, try for longer words, since they add both time and points.
Tips
Check whether a word you found can take an ending such as -s, -ed, -er or -ing. If the letters for it are next to the word on the grid, that is a second word for little effort.
Hunt for the long word early. Every grid hides a word of six to eight letters, and finding it buys you a lot of time for the rest.
Do not spray guesses. A word that is not in the list costs a life, and three wrong guesses end the level.
On a keyboard, type the word and press Enter. Backspace removes a letter. On a touch screen you can also tap letters one by one and tap the last one again to send the word.
Similar games
Word Grid is our only word game for now. If you like a puzzle with a clear rule and a clock, try Bigger Sum for quick arithmetic, or Target Sums for a number puzzle with one solution and no time limit.
Questions
- Is this word game free?
- Yes. Levels 1 to 5 will be free in the browser and in Telegram, with nothing to install. The full version opens all levels for a one-time payment, with no subscription.
- Is it like Boggle?
- It shares the idea of joining neighboring letters in a grid. Here the grid grows from 3×3 to 5×5, each level has a word goal, and every word you find adds time to the clock.
- Which words are accepted?
- English words of 3 to 8 letters from a list of about 40,750, including plurals and verb forms. No names, abbreviations or offensive words.
- Can I play in Ukrainian?
- Yes. Switch the interface to Ukrainian and the game uses a Ukrainian list of about 34,700 nouns in the nominative singular. The Ukrainian grid has no letter ґ and no words with an apostrophe.
- Why did a real word not count?
- It may be shorter than the level's minimum, already found, or traced along a path that uses a square twice or skips a square. It may also be missing from our list, which is large but not complete, or be on the list of offensive words, which never count and never cost a life. A word sent after the clock ran out is not judged.