How to Play Wordle at Home: Rules, Boards and 2-Player Versions
To play Wordle at home, one person secretly picks a five-letter word and everyone else gets six guesses to find it. After each guess, mark every letter: green if it is in the right spot, yellow if it is in the word but somewhere else, gray if it is not in the word at all. You only need pen and paper, though a magnetic board makes it easier for groups, and a two-player app version lets you set words for each other.
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4 min
The rules in one minute
Wordle is a daily word puzzle published by The New York Times. You can play the official Wordle for free in your browser, one puzzle a day. The rules are simple, which is why it works so well as a game at home too: the secret word has five letters, you get six guesses, and every guess has to be a real word.
1Set the secret word
One player secretly types in a word for the other to guess.
2Guess the word
The guesser has 6 tries. Green is the right letter in the right spot, yellow is in the word but somewhere else, gray is not in the word.
3Win or lose
Guess it within 6 tries and you win. Run out of tries and the word-setter wins.
One detail people often get wrong: if your guess has the same letter twice and the secret word only has it once, only one of them is marked. For example, guess SPEED against the word CREPT, and only one E turns colored.
Way 1: Pen and paper
This is the easiest version and works for any group.
What you need: paper, a pen for the word setter, and a pen in two colors for marking (or just write G, Y and a dash).
- The word setter writes a five-letter word on a slip of paper and folds it away.
- Draw a grid of six rows with five boxes each, big enough for everyone to see.
- Players call out a guess. The setter writes it in the next row and marks each letter green, yellow or gray.
- Play until someone guesses the word or the six rows are full.
- Whoever solved it picks the next word. If nobody did, the setter scores a point and goes again.
Tip for groups: let teams guess together and give the team that solves it in the fewest rows a point. Kids can play with three- or four-letter words and more rows.
Way 2: A magnetic or wipe-clean board
If you play a lot, a board saves you drawing grids. There are magnetic letter boards and wipe-clean word grid boards made for this kind of five-letter guessing game, and they work well on a fridge or a coffee table. You can browse Wordle games and boards on Amazon to compare what is available and the current prices. There is also an official party game version sold in stores.
What to look for:
- Six rows of five tiles, so you can play the classic format.
- Three tile colors (or color markers), so the word setter can mark green, yellow and gray.
- A hidden spot for the secret word, so the setter can check guesses without it being seen.
A whiteboard and three dry-erase markers do the same job if you would rather not buy anything.
Way 3: Two players on one phone
The daily Wordle is a solo puzzle: everyone gets the same word, so you can’t really play against each other. For a head-to-head game, you need someone to pick the word for the other player.
That is how Word Duel works in the Duoo app, a Wordle-style game for two. One player secretly types in a word, the other has six tries to guess it, and the tiles turn green, yellow and gray just like you know them. Then you swap and see who cracked the other’s word faster. You can also pick a word your partner will never guess, which is half the fun.
Tips for better guesses
- Start with common letters. Words like CRANE, SLATE, AUDIO or RAISE test several vowels and frequent consonants at once.
- Use your second guess to test new letters, even if you already have a green or two. Ruling letters out is worth more early on.
- Watch for double letters. Words like APPLE, LEVEL or SPOON trip people up because you assume each letter appears once.
- Think about where yellows can go. A yellow letter can’t be in the spot where you just tried it, so there are only four places left.
- When setting a word at home, be fair. Everyday words make a better game than obscure ones. Save the tricky words for players who ask for them.
More word games to play at home
If your group likes Wordle, try Taboo, where you describe a word without saying it, or Scramble, a race to unjumble the letters. For no-equipment ideas, see our games to play with friends without anything.
Wordle is a trademark of The New York Times Company. Duoo is not affiliated with or endorsed by The New York Times.
Questions
How do you play Wordle at home with family? +
One person picks a secret five-letter word and writes it down out of sight. Everyone else takes turns calling out five-letter guesses, and the word setter marks each letter green, yellow or gray on a sheet of paper or a whiteboard. Whoever guesses the word wins and picks the next one.
Can you play Wordle with two players? +
Yes. Take turns: each player picks a secret word for the other, then you both guess. Whoever needs fewer tries wins the round. It works on paper, or with a two-player word game app where you type in the word for each other.
What are the rules of Wordle? +
You have six tries to guess a five-letter word. Every guess has to be a real word. After each guess, green means the letter is correct and in the right place, yellow means it is in the word but in a different place, and gray means it is not in the word.
What is a good first word in Wordle? +
Pick a word with common letters and different vowels, like CRANE, SLATE, AUDIO or RAISE. You want to rule out as many letters as possible on the first guess, not find the word right away.
