Squaredle

The daily word-search puzzle on a square grid.

The classic square word hunt. Connect neighbouring letters in any direction to clear the board, one puzzle a day.

Download Squaredle

How to play Squaredle

Squaredle is a word hunt on a 4×4 grid, rebuilt every day. There are no clues and nothing to type: the sixteen letters in front of you already contain every answer, and the game is working out which paths through them spell something. Drag across touching tiles to claim a word, and keep going until the list is empty.

Squaredle rules

A word must be four letters or longer. Three-letter words are not on the answer list and will be rejected.
Consecutive letters must sit on touching tiles, counting all eight neighbours. A path may turn as often as you like.
No tile twice in the same word — a path can never cross itself. Across different words, reuse everything.
Boards carry between 34 and 59 answers, the longest running to nine letters.
The progress bar above the grid awards a star for each quarter of the list you clear.
A new Squaredle is published every day at midnight UTC.

Reading the word list

The panel next to the board is the nearest thing Squaredle has to clues, and most players underuse it. Every answer is listed from the moment the board loads, masked as asterisks and grouped by length, so a row of six asterisks is a standing instruction: there is a six-letter word in here somewhere. Two tabs change how the list is sorted — by the order answers appear on the board, or by length — and each group shows how many of its words are still missing, turning green when you have cleared it. On a phone the same list opens by tapping the found-words counter above the grid.

Bonus words

Not everything hidden in the grid is on the main list. Rarer words — archaic forms, unusual plurals, crossword vocabulary — are collected separately under Bonus Words. They are not needed to finish the board and cost nothing to attempt, so a word you are only half sure exists is always worth a swipe.

How to get unstuck

Every board comes with the same allowance of help, and it refreshes with tomorrow's puzzle:

Tips (💡) — 15 uses. Reveals the first half of an unfound word and draws the opening of its path on the grid.
First Letters — 5 uses. Opens up the initial letter of three unfound words in the list.
Last Letters — 5 uses. The same, from the other end.
Word Hint — 5 uses. Supplies a short definition for three unfound words and files them in a Hints tab for later.
Rotate — unlimited. Turns the board 90°. Nothing about the puzzle changes, but a familiar grid at an unfamiliar angle gives up words you have stared past all morning.

When the hints run dry, two habits do more than any tool. Re-read the length groups you have not finished and ask which letters could possibly start a word that long. And check your own answers for spare parts: a noun you already found usually has a plural sitting next to it, and a verb often has an -ED or -ER within reach.

Stuck on today's board? Try the Squaredle Solver — type in the grid and get every word it hides.

Squaredle or Squaredle Express?

Squaredle Express plays by exactly these rules on a 3×3 board. Nine letters instead of sixteen cuts the answer list to 10–15 words, which turns the full-size sitting into a two-minute puzzle. Plenty of people do Express first as a warm-up and save the 4×4 grid for later in the day.

Squaredle FAQ

What is Squaredle?

Squaredle is a daily word-search puzzle played on a 4×4 grid of letters. There are no clues: you find words by dragging through tiles that touch each other, and the board is solved once every word on the list has been traced. This version is free in the browser, with no account and nothing to install.

How many words are in a Squaredle puzzle?

The answer list runs from 34 to 59 words depending on the board, averaging about 43. A further 30 or so rare bonus words are hidden in the same grid but are not required to finish.

Where can I find today's Squaredle answers?

The word list beside the grid already tells you most of it — every answer you have not found is shown as asterisks, so you know exactly how many words are left and how long each one is. The hint tools fill in first or last letters, and yesterday's board is published in full behind the calendar icon. For the complete list of a board you are playing now, type its letters into the Squaredle Solver.

Do diagonal connections count?

Yes. Each tile connects to all eight tiles around it, and a word can change direction as many times as it needs to. The only restriction is that a path cannot reuse a tile it has already crossed.

What is the minimum word length?

Four letters. Three-letter words are excluded from the answer list entirely, so a valid short word like CAT will simply be rejected. The longest answers reach nine letters.

Can I play yesterday's Squaredle?

Yes. The calendar icon in the top bar opens yesterday's grid together with its full answer list, which is the fastest way to see what you missed.

What is the difference between Squaredle and Squaredle Express?

Express is the same game on a 3×3 board. Nine letters instead of sixteen brings the answer list down to 10–15 words, so a whole puzzle takes a couple of minutes rather than a sitting. Both refresh daily and both are free.