Hidden Word is a guessing game for one person and a keyboard. There is a five-letter word, and you have six tries to find it. After every guess the tiles tell you which letters sit in the right place, which belong somewhere else in the word, and which are not in it at all. On Toque it opens every set: a few minutes of vocabulary before the grid and the cards.
How to play
Type a five-letter word on the keyboard below the board, or on your own keyboard, and press Enter. The guess has to be a word from the game's list; if it is not, the game says so and the try is not used up. Then read the marks:
- A square tile — this letter is in the word and in exactly this position.
- A round tile — the letter is in the word, but in a different position.
- A faded tile — the letter is not in the word, or not as many times as you typed it.
- The keys of the on-screen keyboard take the same marks, so you can see which letters are still open.
Square and round are shapes, not just colours, so the result can be read without telling colours apart. Find the word within six guesses and the puzzle is solved; after the sixth wrong guess the answer is shown.
Levels and the strict rule
The answer is drawn from a ranked list of common words. On the easy level it comes from the most frequent third of five-letter words, on the medium level from the frequent two thirds, and on the hard level from the whole answer list. The hard level also switches on the strict rule: every letter you have already found must be used in the next guess, and a letter marked with a square must stay where it is. If a guess breaks the rule, the game names the missing letter. In the daily set the level follows the day of the week.
Strategy
- Open with five different, frequent letters. In the English answers E, A and R appear most often; T, O and S follow. A start such as a word with three of those and two vowels tells you a lot in one go. The guide which letters to try first lists the counts for all four languages.
- Spend the second guess on new letters. Unless the strict rule is on, a second word made of five fresh letters usually narrows things down more than one that keeps a square letter in place.
- Remember double letters. About three answers in ten use one letter twice. When the vowels run out and nothing fits, try a double.
- Work from the end. Many English answers end in E, T, Y or R. The last letter is often easier to settle than the first.
- Read the round tiles twice. A round mark says the letter is in the word and also where it is not. Use that, rather than trying the letter in every position one guess at a time.
- Keep hints for the last stretch. A hint shows the letter of the next unknown position. In the daily set each hint costs 20 points, while an extra guess costs only 10.
Questions
Does a word that is not in the list use up a try?
No. It is refused with a short message, and you can delete it and type another word.
Which words can be the answer?
Answers come from the common part of the game's list for that language. Names and abbreviations are never answers, and words that would not suit a breakfast table are filtered out. You can still guess any word in the larger accepted list.
Why is the hidden word different in the other languages?
Each language uses its own word list, so the Italian, Hungarian and Finnish versions of a set each hide their own word. The grid, the deal and the board problem are shared.
Can I play more than one word a day?
Yes. This page gives you a new word whenever you ask for one, and the archive has a fixed word in every numbered set.
Where does an unfinished game wait for me?
Right here in this browser. Reload the page and your rows are back where you left them.