The 9 best Wordle alternatives in 2023
Whether you’ve grown tired of Wordle, or you simply can’t get enough of Word games, we’re here to help. We’ve scoured the web to find a little something for everyone, from BTS superfans to amateur cartographers. Here’s a few of our favorite Wordle alternatives to get you started.
1. Heardle
Heardleis Wordle-meets-Name That Tune. While not terribly original, it’s very well executed. We all have thought we know a song so well that the first note or two is enough to give it away; Heardle lets you put your skills to the test with songs new and old alike. The game starts off with just the first second of a song, and adds progressively longer clips to the run time until you correctly guess the title. Even if you don’t get it right immediately, it’s fun to pin down the moment you recognize a song.
2. Worldle
Are you obsessed with geography? Can you name every island chain in the Pacific? Put your confidence to the test withWorldle. Each game starts with just the silhouette of a country, territory, or other geographic region. With after every incorrect guess you’re told how far and in which direction from your guess the correct answer is. If you’re justtoogood, and want to level the playing field, it’s possible to increase the difficulty by either having the map randomly rotated, or by turning it off altogether and using the directional hints to figure it out.
3. Crosswordle
Crosswordleclaims to be “Wordle-meets-Sudoku.” The game lets you start from a solved Wordle, and your job is to determine the guesses that led to the solution. While youcantry to fill the board out line-by-line, you’ll probably have an easier time treating it like a Sudoku–fill in all the squares you have information for, and build out words from there. Crosswordle solutions vary in difficulty from a few words to six words, and while we like the added difficulty, the game occasionally requires us to use words that would beverybad guesses in Wordle.
4. Sweardle
Have you ever thought, “what if instead of 5-letter words, Wordle was 4-letter words?“Sweardleis just that, giving you four guesses to figure out the 4-letter word of the day that would land you in grade school detention. Yes, 4-letter words as in swear words. Is itmature? No. Is it quick and fun? Yes.
5. Squirdle
Squirdleis Wordle for lifelong Pokémon masters. It comes in daily and endless flavors, but rather than just using standard Wordle letter-based rules, every guess you make gives you context clues for the Pokémon of the day. You get eight guesses, and get learn more about the answer with each guess. You’ll learn if your answer is from a newer or older generation than your guess, if it’s taller or shorter, heavier or lighter, and if you have the right typing. If that doesn’t sound hard enough, the list of possible answers also includes regional variations and mega evolutions. This one is plenty hard even if you have Bulbapedia open.
If the part of Wordle you want away from is the letters,Nerdlemight be what you’re looking for. Just like Wordle, you have six guesses–only instead of words you’re making a simple math problem. You get all the same position clues, and need to ensure that your equation is actually correct. It has enough similarities to Wordle to remain familiar, but also be a totally different game. Additionally, unlike the vast majority of Wordle-likes, this onedoeshave an app, so it’s possible to add this to your daily routine without cluttering up your browser any more than it already is.
7. BTS Wordle
If you’re a BTS Stan, or even just a run-of-the-mill fan,BTS-Wordleis a great addition to your daily routine. The word of the day can be anything from a band member’s name, to a song title or lyric, or even a reference to something that happened on Twitter. BTS-Wordle feels like a very large inside joke sometimes, since so much of it depends on things intimately familiar to a community of millions, but at the same time can look unintelligible to the uninitiated.
8. Queerdle
Queerdlebills itself as the yassification of Wordle, and that feels very accurate. There are a few things different from traditional Wordle, rules-wise. The word of the day isn’t always five letters, it can be from 4 to 8 letters, and sometimes it can actually be two words. Thematically, though, all the words relate to queer culture in one way or another, including memes. When you complete a Queerdle, you’ll be met with a picture or GIF that will make it more clear how it fits into the culture, if you weren’t aware of the classic life advice of “Be gay, do crime,” for example.
9. Antiwordle
The point ofAntiwordleis to play a Wordle as poorly as you can, taking as many guesses as possible to arrive at the word of the day. Do your best to make words with as few and uncommon of letters as possible. It can be challenging to find words worse for Wordle than “queue”, but that’s exactly what you’ll have to do to last in Antiwordle. All in all it’s a nice change of pace if you wanted to try fun words but didn’t want to sabotage your Wordle stats.
Although our list is certainly enough to whet Worldle fans' appetites, it is, by no means, exhaustive. If you’ve got any favorite Wordle-esque games you think deserve recognition, feel free to let us know about them in the comments. If you wanted to try out somenon-Wordle games, though, check out our list of the bestsurvival gameson android, or maybe our list ofallthebest gameson Android right now.
The note-taking app I should have used all along
Broader branding hints at wider paid-tier ambitions
I found the only AI photo app worth keeping on my phone
It’s not your average Google Drive rival
It’s time to sniff out the culprit
Spotify AI is the reason I keep pressing play
