How to Play Word Grid: Rules, Scoring and Tips for Finding More Words

Making words

Press on a tile and drag to a tile that touches it. Tiles touch sideways, up and down, and diagonally, so each tile has up to eight neighbours. Keep dragging to add letters, and lift your finger or mouse to send the word.

• Each tile can be used once in a word.
• A word needs at least three letters.
• Drag back over your last tile to take that letter off again.
• Words only count if they are in the dictionary. A word you have already found cannot be scored again.

Scoring

The longer the word, the more it is worth, and the points grow quickly.

• 3 letters: 100 points
• 4 letters: 200 points
• 5 letters: 400 points
• 6 letters: 700 points
• 7 letters: 1,100 points
• 8 letters: 1,600 points, and more for longer words

Playing the levels

Single-player Word Grid has 100 levels. Every level is the same board for everyone, with a time limit and a score target. Reach the first target to pass the level and earn a star, and reach the higher targets for two and three stars. A level that you pass unlocks the next one.

The levels get harder as you go. The early levels use a four-by-four grid with plenty of time. Later levels move up to five-by-five and then six-by-six grids, the clock gets tighter, and the targets are higher.

Hints

You have two hints in every round. A hint lights up the path of a long word that you have not found yet, so you can swipe it yourself. Hints do not score for you, and they are the same for every player in a race.

Racing friends

In a private room up to four players share the same board at the same moment. Everyone swipes words on their own screen, and nobody can see another player's words or score while the round is running. When the time is up, all the words are revealed together, with the points and the ranking for the round. The highest score wins the round, and over several rounds the totals decide the winner.

A match climbs a ladder. The first two rounds are on a four-by-four board, the next two on five-by-five and the last two on six-by-six, and the second round on each size is the harder one. Online boards start tougher than single-player level 1, with fewer easy words and a long word to hunt for, and bigger boards get more time. The host chooses the base round time (60, 90 or 120 seconds) and the match length (2, 4 or 6 rounds) in the room before the game starts.

Tips for finding more words

• Look for word endings first. S, ED, ING and ER often turn a short word into a longer one.
• Find the longest word you can, then look for the shorter words inside it. Plural forms and smaller words are extra points.
• Scan for common letter pairs and groups, such as TH, ER, IN, ST and CH, and for vowel groups you can build around.
• Do not rush with three-letter words. One seven-letter word is worth more than ten short ones.
• Use a hint when you are stuck, and look at the path it shows to see how long words are built.

Frequently asked questions