Word Guess

Guess the hidden five-letter word in six tries. Colour clues narrow it down — keep your streak alive.

The five-letter guessing game is decades older than its 2021 viral moment — Jotto dates from 1955, and the British game show Lingo ran the same format on television from 1987. What changed was one puzzle a day for everyone, and a spoiler-free way to share your result.

Information theory gives a clean answer to the opening move. The best first guesses maximise expected information, splitting the remaining candidate set as evenly as possible, and they tend to be words full of common letters in common positions. Repeating letters early is usually a waste — a guess that can only eliminate a few words is a wasted turn regardless of how likely the word is.