How unlimited mode works
- Choose a word length: 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 letters.
- Guess the word in six tries. Tiles turn green, yellow or gray, the same as the daily.
- Win or lose, tap New puzzle for another word straight away.
Your unlimited stats are kept separately for each length, so you can see whether you are faster at five letters than seven.
Why practice helps
The daily puzzle gives you one game a day. That is about 365 games a year, which is not a lot of practice. Ten unlimited games in one sitting teach you more about which first guesses work, how double letters catch you out and when to play a guess that cannot be the answer, than a fortnight of dailies.
A good routine: play the daily first while your streak is on the line, then use unlimited to try a new opening word or practice hard mode without any risk.
Choosing a length
4 letters is quick and good for warming up. Fewer letters means every tile matters more, and short words with repeated letters can be surprisingly tricky.
5 letters is the classic length. If you are practicing for a daily five-letter game, this is the one to play.
6 letters gives more possible answers, which makes each guess matter more. See the dedicated 6-letter game for a daily version.
7 and 8 letters are for players who find six too easy. Long words reveal more letters per guess, but there are far more of them to choose from.
Tips for unlimited
Try a new opener each session. Unlimited is the safe place to test a starting word before you trust it with your streak.
Turn on hard mode. It forces you to use every clue, which is a quick way to break bad habits like ignoring a yellow letter.
Play for the fewest guesses, not only the win. Winning in six is fine. Winning in four means you used the colors well.
Switch lengths between rounds. Playing four letters, then seven, then five keeps you reading colors fresh each time instead of falling back on the same handful of guesses.
What never changes between daily and unlimited
The colors work the same way in both modes: green for a letter in the right place, yellow for a letter in the word but the wrong place, gray for a letter that is not in the word at all. High-contrast mode swaps green and yellow for orange and blue in both, and hard mode, if you turn it on, applies to whichever mode you are playing. The only real differences are that unlimited never touches your streak and never hands you a word that is due to be an upcoming daily, so nothing you see here can spoil a puzzle you have not played yet.
Words we use
Answers are common English words. Plurals ending in S, proper nouns and offensive words are never answers. Any valid word of the right length is accepted as a guess.