How to play
- Type any eleven-letter word and press Enter.
- Read the tiles:
- Green: right letter, right spot.
- Yellow: the letter is in the word, in a different spot.
- Gray: the letter is not in the word.
- Find the word within six guesses.
Repeated letters follow one rule: each letter in the answer can only color one tile in your guess. If the answer has one A and you guess two, only one of them lights up.
Why eleven letters plays differently
Eleven letters is as long as this game gets, and at that length a word is often built from several smaller parts stacked together, not just one root with a prefix or suffix attached. That gives you more to hold onto, but it also means two very different words can share three or four letters in a row and still not be the same shape at all.
Repeated letters are the norm here, not the exception. A word like CATERPILLAR (an example only, never an answer here) repeats three different letters, and losing track of even one of them can send you chasing the wrong candidate for several guesses.
Tips for eleven-letter words
Cover both ends of the word first. A strong opener tests letters from the start and the end, since long words often carry their clearest part at one edge, not the middle.
Count every letter once you are close. At eleven letters, more than one repeat is common. If your found letters fall short of eleven, look for a letter you have undercounted, not a new one you have missed.
Try a guess that could not be the answer. With three or four candidates left, a guess built to separate them beats guessing one candidate at a time.
Do not fear an uncommon letter. Eleven-letter words draw from a wide vocabulary, so letters like C, G and P show up more than you might expect from shorter games.
Keep the keyboard in view. Gray letters on the keyboard are your cheat sheet for what not to type, and at this length there is a lot to track without it.
Give the middle guesses a job. Once your opener has colored a few tiles, do not guess words that merely feel plausible. Pick a guess that would tell two shapes apart, even if it cannot be the answer itself.
A quick example
Say your first guess is REGULATIONS (an example only, never an answer here).
- R turns gray: there is no R in the word.
- E turns green: it belongs in the second spot.
- G, U and L turn gray.
- A turns yellow: there is an A, but not in the sixth spot.
- T, I, O and N turn gray, and S turns green in the eleventh spot.
Your next guess should keep E in spot two and S in spot eleven, include an A somewhere other than spot six, and avoid R, G, U, L, T, I, O and N. One guess has already ruled out eight letters and placed two more.
Daily and unlimited
The Daily eleven-letter word is the same for everyone today and counts toward your streak. When you finish, you can share a grid of colors, with no letters in it.
Unlimited gives you a new eleven-letter word every time. Use it to test openers and hard mode before tomorrow's daily.
Try another length
- Five-letter daily for the classic length.
- 10 letters for one fewer letter, or 9 letters for a
shorter round still.
- 32 boards if eleven letters on one board feels too easy.