The basics
Pick a Theme and a number of Squares. Each square is a letter of the word. Tap a square to choose a letter. Only letters that can still make a real word are offered.
The number in brackets next to Squares is how many words still fit. Any length shows 15 squares and matches words of every length. Changing the number of squares keeps your letters and locks in the squares that remain.
Toggles
- Show list
- On: see every matching word, in order. Off: play the game. A mystery word is chosen and you fill in its letters. Correct letters turn green. Solve it and the Solved counter goes up.
- Show clue
- Adds clues. With the list on, each word shows its clue. With the list off, a scrolling list of clues appears with the total at the top.
- Search clues
- Appears when Show clue is on. Type words to keep only clues that contain all of them. The word list, counts, letters and mystery word all follow the search.
- Show scrambled
- Shows the letters of the selected clue's word in random order, or the first word in the list if no clue is selected. Tap Shuffle to mix them again.
- Advanced
- Shows a pattern row. Use letters, ? for exactly one letter, and * for any number of letters (even none). Example:
?A*D finds PAID, BALLED and BAD.
Buttons
- Smart
- On: each square offers only letters that still make a word (for a tapped clue, its word). Off: every square offers all 26 letters, and a letter no word allows turns red.
- Lock letters
- Fixes the letters you have picked (shown in teal). With Smart on, the other squares offer only letters used by the words that still fit. With Smart off they offer all 26, and a letter that no word allows turns red. Tap Unlock to undo.
- Unscramble
- Rearranges the letters in the unlocked squares into a word from the list, keeping locked letters in place. Turn Smart off to type scrambled letters freely. It only uses exactly your letters, never dropping or adding any. If no word fits, the squares stay as they are.
- Keyboard
- Opens a simple keyboard under the squares. Type the whole word, then tap Enter to fill every square in one go. Locked squares are skipped. ◀ and ▶ move the cursor without erasing (or tap a square in the preview). ⌫ erases the letter before the cursor, Skip leaves a square blank, Clear starts over. After Enter or Undo the keyboard keeps showing what is in the squares, so you can keep editing. Copy loads the letters already in the squares so you can edit them, and copies them to the clipboard. With Smart on, only letters that can still make a word at the cursor's square can be tapped; the rest are greyed out. With Smart off any letter can be typed, and one no word allows turns red. A computer keyboard works too while it is open.
- Undo
- Clears the last letter you placed (locked squares stay). After a solve or a reveal it also takes that back, and the Solved count goes down by one, so you can change letters and try for a different word.
- Clear
- Empties every square that isn't locked.
- Solving
- Spell any word from the current list, starting at the first square, and it counts as solved, with the list shown or hidden. If you tapped a single clue, you must find that exact word.
- Reveal word
- Shows the mystery word. It doesn't count as solved.
- New word / Next word
- Skips to a new mystery word. After a solve or reveal, the game waits until you tap Next word.
Picking one clue
Tap any clue or word in a list to narrow everything to that word. With the list off, it becomes the mystery word. Tap it again or use Show all to go back.
Themes
Sixteen themes come from Pocket Crossword. Other (dictionary) adds about 40,000 everyday words from 1 to 45 letters. All themes combines everything. Long lists show the first 300 results. Pick letters to narrow them.
Refresh
When Words is opened from your home screen, drag down from the top of the page and let go to reload it (for example after a new version is published). Your settings and Solved count are kept. Letters you have picked are cleared.
Your theme, length, toggles, pattern and Solved count are remembered on this device.