Love Wordle? Try These 14 Other Games

While some users are drawn to Wordle precisely because it offers just one daily puzzle, others want more opportunities to test the pattern recognition and deductive and spatial reasoning skills it takes to solve puzzles. Not surprisingly, Wordle’s popularity has spawned a number of similar games designed to test your knowledge of everything from words to geography and numbers.

Consider adding these 14 free web-based games to your daily routine. 

1. ​​Absurdle: Unlike Wordle, which has one correct answer (and all players are trying to guess the same word each day), Absurdle is designed to make it almost impossible to solve the puzzle. How? The algorithm chooses words that are as dissimilar from the user’s first guess as possible, and the correct answer changes with each subsequent guess until there is only one possible word left.​
   
   
2. Artle: From the National Gallery of Art, this game gives players four tries to identify a mystery artist by looking at pictures of four different works. The pieces shown come from the museum’s collection of paintings, sculptures, photos and more.
   
   
3. ​​​Crosswordle:​​ Like Wordle, this game uses green, yellow and gray boxes to guide you toward the solution. But instead of a single word, Crosswordle serves up two related words that cross over each other (similar to a crossword puzzle). Players are given a clue after each guess.​
   
   
4. Dordle: Think Wordle is too easy? Double your fun with Dordle. The game features two side-by-side word boards (using the same green/yellow/gray letter blocks to indicate when guesses are correct), and players have six chances to guess both words. There are two options: Daily Dordle (one new game each day) and Unlimited Dordle.​
   
   
5. ​​Hello Wordl:​ What sets Hello Wordl apart from the original game is that players can choose the length of the secret word. Use a slider to increase the number of letters — ranging from four to 11 — in your daily puzzle.​
   
   
6. Nerdle: Even if you’re not a numbers person, this might be the game to try. Nerdle offers six chances to guess a math equation and solution, using colored boxes to provide feedback on those guesses. Green indicates the number is both in the puzzle and in the right place, yellow means the number is in the puzzle but not in the right place, and gray numbers are not part of the puzzle. Good news for Nerdlers: A new puzzle becomes available every eight hours.​
   
   
7. Quordle: Logophiles, unite! (That means “lovers of words,” if you didn’t already know.) Think of Quordle as extreme Wordle. Players enter letters and attempt to guess five-letter words on four different boards at the same time. Each guess puts the correct (and incorrect) letters up on the boards, and players have nine tries to solve all four puzzles. New puzzles are released once a day.​
   
   
8. Semantle: Try to identify a random word of the day with unlimited guesses. After each attempt, the game gives you information on how semantically similar your word is to the secret word. It’s all about the meaning of the word and how closely your guess is to the secret word. Words can be any part of speech.
   
   
9. ​Star Wordle: Fans of Star Wars can play their own version of the popular word game, with five-letter words drawn from the sci-fi franchise. The “how to play” example includes “saber,” “Vader” and “grogu” as possible words. ​
   
   
10. ​Sweardle: If you love certain kinds of four-letter words, this one’s for you. It’s the exact same concept as Wordle, but the answers consist of curse words and expletives. Colorful, to say the least, but definitely not suitable for playing at work, in public or around the grandkids!​
    
    
11. Tradle: This one comes from the Observatory of Economic Complexity, which compiles international trade data. Guess a country based on what it exports — like gold or cloth or nuts. To start, the game provides a tree map featuring exports, represented by rectangles of different sizes to show the share of a given product proportional to the country’s exports. With each guess (an unlimited number) the game tells you how close your are to the target country by kilometers and what direction it’s located.
    
    
12. ​Wizarding Wordle: Head over to MuggleNet to access a Harry Potter version of the game. There’s a new puzzle every day, and each one features a five-letter wizarding word like “squib,” “filch,” “cloak” or “broom.” (Potterheads can also check out Hogwartle.)​
    
    
13. ​Words with Friends: The original online word game has been a fan favorite since it was introduced in 2009. It’s essentially a two-player virtual game of Scrabble. Invite a friend or connect with another player on the platform, and use the letters provided to make words on the board. The player who racks up the most points wins. This game also is accessible by app. ​
    
    
14. Worldle: This puzzle tests your knowledge of world geography. Players are shown a shaded cutout of a map and asked to guess the country or territory. With each guess, players learn how far away (and in which direction) the correct country is located and have six chances to correctly identify the country.
    

Bonus: If you’re looking for more games that will keep your brain active, check out AARP’s Staying Sharp brain games or AARP’s full menu of online games, including Mahjongg, FreeCell, arcade games and more. 

Jodi Helmer is a contributing writer who covers gardening, health and the environment. She has also written for Scientific American, National Geographic Traveler and NPR.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 4, 2022. It's been updated to reflect new information.