Don't Wordle: six guesses, zero hits

How to play Don't Wordle

You have six guesses and one job: get through all six without ever typing the hidden word. The tiles color as usual, green for the right letter in the right spot, yellow for a letter that is in the word somewhere else, and gray for a letter that is not in it. And you cannot ignore them. Every guess has to fit all of the clues so far:

• Green letters stay where they are.
• Yellow letters come back in a different spot.
• Gray letters cannot be used again.

Survive six guesses and you win. Type the hidden word at any point and you are caught. If a guess breaks a clue, the game tells you which one and lets you pick another word.

Words that fit, undos and getting cornered

Above the board, a counter shows how many words still fit every clue, the hidden word included. Watch it closely, because it is your safety margin. You need one safe word for each row you have left, and the hidden word does not count as safe. If a guess leaves fewer safe words than rows to fill, you are cornered. Enough safe words is a warning sign, not a promise: each guess adds clues that can knock others off the list, so a round can still close in later. Keep a margin.

That is what the five undos are for. When you are cornered, the game pauses and asks you to take back a guess. You can also undo any time a guess looks risky, before the trap closes. Undos you spend show up in your shared result, so your friends know how hard the day was. Run out of undos while cornered and the round is over.

Don't Wordle strategy: keep the counter high

• Open with uncommon letters. A gray E or A rules out a huge share of words, while gray J, Q, X or Z barely touch the list. The more words fit, the more room you have.
• Look out for green. A green letter fixes a spot for the rest of the round and can drop the counter fast.
• Plan for the last two rows. By guess four you want plenty of fitting words left over, not just enough.
• Keep an undo for the end. Corners usually show up on guess five or six, when the list is already short.

Want the same idea with no limit? In Antiwordle there is no sixth guess to reach: you hold off the word for as long as you can and score every guess.

Today's Don't Wordle and unlimited rounds

The daily round is the same word for everyone and changes at midnight where you are. Each day you survive adds to your streak, and your guesses save in this browser, so you can stop and come back. Your shared result shows the colors of each row and the undos you used, never a letter. Play Don't Wordle online on any phone or computer, with nothing to install.

Tap Unlimited for a fresh word whenever you want another try. Unlimited rounds do not touch your daily streak.

More ways to play

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

This is Vowelkit's own dodge-the-word game, with our own word list and daily puzzles. It is not affiliated with the original Don't Wordle or with Wordle.