If you like Wordle, you should try these 10 word games next

Wordle was released in 2021 and has grown into one of the biggest word games in recent memory. It was created by Josh Wardle for his partner, and was later acquired by The New York Times in 2022. CNET’s Gael Cooper there are plenty of tips and tricks to tackle any Wordle puzzle, but if you’re done with today’s game — or just love puzzle games — these options are worth your time.

Wordle asks players to guess a five-letter word in six or fewer guesses (we have one two-step strategy to help you solve the puzzle every time). After each guess, the game shows gray blocks for the wrong letters, yellow blocks for the right letters in the wrong place, and green blocks for the right letters in the right place. It’s addictive, but after you solve the daily puzzle or use all your guesses, you have to wait until the next day to play again.

You’ve likely already learned some tips, tricks, and lessons from the popular word gameso why not apply your new problem solving skills to other puzzles too? After all, Wordle isn’t the only game in town. Here are 10 more wordle-like puzzle games you’ll likely enjoy.

Connections

Another NYT-owned puzzle, Connections is a tricky word game. “Players must choose four sets of four words without making more than four mistakes,” he said The NYT wrote on X, formerly Twitter. There are also four color-coded difficulty levels for each game; yellow is the lightest, then green, blue and finally purple. The game is also similar to BBC quiz show Only Connect, and the host admitted it X to point out the connection — see what I did there?

You can play Connections in any web browser, but you need a NYT subscription (which starts at $1 per week) to play.

strands

Strands is another NYT-owned puzzle, but this game is more like a word search than Wordle and Connections. This game presents a theme each day to help you find the words in a grid. In Threads, words can appear forward, backward, top-down, or any number of ways in a traditional word search, and words can also be shaped like an “L” or have a zigzag in them. When you find a word, tap the first letter and drag your finger to other letters. Every letter in the puzzle is used, so if you still have letters that aren’t connected to words, you’re not done yet.

You can play Strands in any web browser, but you need a NYT subscription (which starts at $1 per week) to play.

quartiles

quartiles is a new pun that Apple News Plus subscribers can access on their site iPhone OR iPad who is running iOS 17.5 or later. In this word game, you are given 20 tiles with letters on them and you are trying to put them together to form different words. The longest words are four tiles long, and these are called quartiles. The game may be difficult, but finding just one of the quarters is as satisfying as remembering something that was just on the tip of your tongue.

You can play Quartiles on an iPhone or iPad, but you need an Apple News subscription (which starts at $13 per month) to play.

Multiple wordle synoffs: Dordle, Quordle, Octordle, and Secordle

Are you ready for a challenge? If you like Wordle and want puzzle games that take more brain power, you’ll want to check out either Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Secordle. Each of these word games is similar to Wordle, but they add more rows, columns, and words to solve. Each game requires you to choose a different number of words at once: Dordle makes you choose two words at once, Quordle four at once, Octordle eight at once, and Sedecordle an extraordinary 16. Good luck.

You can play Dordle, Quordle, Octordle or Secordle in any web browser.

Turbulent

“Lewdle is a crude wordplay,” reads the content advisory for this game. “If you’re likely to be offended by the use of profanity, vulgarity or obscenity, it’s probably not for you.” Translation: It’s Wordle, but with bad words. The words range from mild — like creepy — to words that would make a sailor blush. Thankfully, despite this game’s content warning, insults not included. Like Wordle, the gray, yellow and green blocks are used in the same way and there is only one puzzle per day. So go forth and let the bad words flow!

You can play Lewdle in any web browser. You can also download this title from Apple App Store or to Google Play shop.

Contradiction

Tired of seeing those grey, yellow and green blocks plastered all over your social media feed? Try Antiwordle. While Wordle wants you to guess a word in as few attempts as possible, Antiwordle wants you to avoid the word by guessing as much as possible. When you guess, the letters will turn gray, yellow or red. Gray means the letter is not in the word and cannot be used again, yellow means the letter is in the word and must be included in any subsequent guesses, and red means the letter is in the correct position within the word and is locked in place. If you can use every letter on the keyboard without correcting the word, you win. Honestly, I have found this version of Wordle to be much more difficult than the original.

You can play Antiwordle in any web browser.

Absurd

Absurdle bills itself as the “adversarial version” of Wordle. While Wordle nudges you in the right direction with every guess, Absurdle is trying to avoid giving you the correct answer. According to the game’s website, “With every guess, Absurdle reveals as little information as possible, changing the secret word if necessary.” Absurd doesn’t choose any words at the start of the game for the player to guess. Instead, it uses the player’s guesses to narrow down the word list in an effort to make the game go as long as possible. The last word may not even include a yellow letter from one of your previous guesses. You can guess as many times as you like, which is helpful, and the best score you can get is a four. Have fun!

You can play Absurdle in any web browser.

For more pun fun, check out CNET’s Wordle tips, best wordle jokes and everything you need to know about puns. You can also check out what you need to know about links and threads.