Antiwordle: try not to guess the word

How to play Antiwordle

The hidden word is an everyday five-letter word, and the tiles color the way you would expect: green is the right letter in the right spot, yellow is in the word somewhere else, and gray is not in the word. The twist is what you have to do with those clues. Every guess must agree with every clue you have seen so far:

• A green letter stays in its spot in every later guess.
• A yellow letter has to come back, in a spot where it has not been yellow before.
• A gray letter is out for the rest of the round.

If a guess breaks a clue, the game says which one, such as "R is out" or "Letter 2 must be A", and you try another word. There is no guess limit. Your score is the number of guesses you make before you finally land on the hidden word, so in Antiwordle a bigger number is a better day.

Why the word always catches you

Since every guess has to fit the clues, each one narrows the list of words you are still allowed to play. The hidden word always fits its own clues, so it never leaves that list. Turn by turn the list shrinks until the answer is the only word left and you have to type it. You cannot win by escaping; you win by lasting longer than last time.

Antiwordle strategy: make every clue small

The best anti Wordle guesses are the ones whose clues rule out as few words as possible. A few habits help:

• Spend rare letters first. In our word list a gray E rules out close to half of all five-letter words, while a gray Q rules out about one in a hundred. Words packed with J, Q, X and Z make gentle openers.
• Fear green more than yellow. A green letter locks a spot for the rest of the round, which cuts the list hard. A yellow one still leaves you four places to try.
• Use odd but real words. The hidden word is always a common one, so a strange word that fits the clues is a safe place to hide for a turn.
• When only a handful of words fit, every common one is a gamble, because any of them could be the answer. Look for the least common word that still fits and play that first.

If you would rather play it straight, our best starting words list shows which openers find a word fastest. Here, it is a list of what not to type first.

The daily Antiwordle and unlimited rounds

Today's word is the same for everyone and changes at midnight where you are. Your daily scores add up to an average and a best, and the round saves in this browser, so you can stop and come back later. When it ends you can share your score: it shows the colors of each row and never a letter, so it spoils nothing.

Tap Unlimited for a new word whenever you like. Unlimited rounds never change your daily numbers, which makes them a good place to test a new way of hiding.

More ways to play

For the usual goal, play unlimited five-letter rounds or the daily puzzle. Our list of games like Wordle covers more twists on the format, and you can see every way to play on Vowelkit.

This is Vowelkit's own take on the avoid-the-word idea, with our own word list and daily puzzles. It is not affiliated with the original Antiwordle or with Wordle.