Which words count?

Start with the visible rules

Journey, Daily and Timed accept words of three or more letters. Classic requires four or more. Include the required letter and use each tile at most once. If the same letter appears twice, two matching tiles are available. Answers are checked without regard to upper or lower case. Repeating a found word never increases your count.

Regional spellings and word forms

The Journey, Daily and Timed dictionary contains both UK and US spellings, but it does not include every regional variant. Plurals, past tenses and other inflections count only when that exact form is in the bundled list and has a sourced meaning. A root word being accepted does not automatically admit all its forms. For example, STAR and STARE are separate words; STARS needs two S tiles. Spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are not supported.

Capitalization cannot turn an entry into a valid proper name. Names and abbreviations are not a promised category; some entries also have ordinary dictionary senses. The list includes uncommon, dated and technical language. Acceptance is a game rule, not an endorsement of a word’s tone or suitability in conversation.

Classic newspaper rules

Classic uses a stricter dictionary: no plural nouns, verb forms made by adding -s or -es, proper names or abbreviations. Other listed verb forms count. Words such as ETHOS have a singular sense and are not rejected just for ending in S. A spelling that has both a name and a supported ordinary meaning can count in that ordinary sense: HART means a male deer. Some spellings have only a name entry in our bundled meanings and are excluded from new Classic entries. Earlier saved discoveries remain credited.

Tap or type, then press Enter. There is no swipe entry or automatic submission in Classic. Four letters is the minimum, the centre letter is mandatory, and each letter may be used only as often as it appears. Good, Great and Excellent are word-count milestones. Play continues after each target; the nine-letter anagram is an extra achievement.

Hints are invitations

General-game clue suggestions come from a deliberately chosen set of familiar words with short, neutral explanations. They are not copied automatically from the first dictionary sense. Some wheels have fewer suggestions. A clue is never a required answer: every accepted word still counts toward the visible word-count goal. There are three shared letter reveals per puzzle and at least one blank always remains.

Meanings and subject packs

Every accepted general word has an offline meaning from WordNet or Wiktionary, linked to its source and licence in the meaning dialog. The dictionary can have omissions and unexpected senses. Topic wheels instead accept only their complete published glossary, with subject-specific notes and examples. See our editorial policy for how suggestions, meanings and teaching resources differ.