Word games

These word tools answer four different questions. The Wordle helper starts from the coloured tiles of your guesses and lists the words that could still be the answer. The word unscrambler starts from a set of letters, or a crossword pattern with gaps, and lists every word they make with its Scrabble points. Ten Tangle is a game rather than a helper: ten scrambled words each day, the same for every player, against a target time. The word grid game shakes 16 letter dice into a grid: trace words through touching letters for 3 minutes, or type in a board from the table to see every word it holds.

All four draw on the same open word list, 270,652 English words from two to fifteen letters with British and American spellings side by side. Plurals and verb forms are included, as word games allow; names, abbreviations and words with hyphens are not. Common words are ranked first by film and television subtitle frequencies, so the Wordle helper puts likely answers on top and Ten Tangle picks everyday words.

Official tournament lists such as Collins Scrabble Words are copyrighted, so a word shown here can occasionally be missing from them, or the other way round.

Alongside the four games sits a grammar helper. The noun gender checker tells you whether a French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch or Polish noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, with its articles and plural. It also names the ending rule behind the answer and how often that rule holds across its 480,625 nouns.

The vocabulary size test estimates how many English words you know. You tick the words you know among real words from 20 frequency bands and made-up ones; every made-up word ticked lowers the estimate, which comes with a likely range. The test runs in six other languages too.

The word grouping game is a puzzle rather than a helper: 16 words to sort into 4 groups of 4, with 4 mistakes allowed. Its boards are written by hand in British English, so a group can rest on a compound, a saying or a word hidden inside another. A new board comes each day, earlier days wait in an archive, and a board you make yourself travels in its own link.

The emoji riddle quiz turns a row of pictures into a film, a song, a saying, a word, a place or a story. Each day brings 10 riddles, the same for every player in English and rising from easy to hard. Answers can be typed, with small typos forgiven, or picked from 4. Practice rounds, a printable sheet and a quiz maker sit alongside.

The riddles with answers game holds 230 riddles in British English, from "what am I?" classics and trick questions to logic and word riddles, each easy, medium or hard. Answers stay hidden until a tap and explain why they work. A riddle of the day takes typed guesses with 3 tries, and quiz rounds print with the answers on page two.

The proverb quiz shows the start of an English proverb to finish, by typing the ending or picking it from 4, and then gives its meaning. Each day brings 10 proverbs, the same for every player. Practice by theme or by month draws on all 292, and a further round mixes real proverbs with made-up ones.

The word game score keeper is for the board game played with letter tiles. Type a move and tap each tile to set the square under it: it adds every word formed and the 50-point bonus for all 7 tiles, with the tile values of seven language editions. A score sheet for 2 to 4 players records passes, exchanges and challenges and settles the tiles left at the end.

The stop the bus helper draws a letter for the pencil-and-paper game where everyone writes a name, a place, an animal and a thing beginning with it. It times the round, then shows example answers for that letter in each column, from 5,646 towns, rivers, countries and everyday words, and prints blank answer sheets.

Fair use of a word helper depends on the game and on what the players have agreed. The official Scrabble rules say no dictionary or word guide may be used while a game is in progress. The unscrambler therefore belongs before a game or after it, not in the middle of a turn.

Scrabble points follow the English edition, where Q and Z are worth 10 and a blank tile scores nothing. Offensive words stay findable in the unscrambler but are never suggested as a Wordle guess or served as a game answer. Every tool runs in your browser, and nothing you type is sent to a server. Ten Tangle keeps your streak and best time in your own browser only.

The word grid game, the riddle game and the proverb quiz keep their statistics the same way, and a grid shared by link never touches the streak.