WOTD guide
A guide to WOTD on OverTime: the board and keys, a strong opening, reading each row, common traps, and how points and streaks work.
How to play WOTD
- 5 letters
- 6 guesses
- New puzzle daily
Goal
Guess the five-letter word of the day in six tries.
- In the word, right spot (bar along the bottom)
- In the word, wrong spot (dot in the corner)
- Not in the word
How a guess works
- Type a five-letter word and press Enter. Any word in the word list counts as a guess, plurals and other forms such as WORDS or LOVED included. The answer is always a common base word.
- A word that is too short or not in the list is turned away, and costs you nothing.
- Green means the letter is in the answer, in that position. Green tiles and keys also carry a short bar along the bottom.
- Yellow means the letter is in the answer, but in a different position. Yellow tiles and keys also carry a small dot in the corner.
- Grey means the letter is not in the answer, or not again (see repeated letters below).
- The on-screen keyboard keeps the best colour each letter has earned, so you can see which letters are still live. A key whose letter is not in the answer is also struck through.
Reading the clues
A yellow letter tells you two things: the answer contains it, and not where you put it. Repeated letters are the usual trap. Each letter in the answer is matched once, exact positions first, so if the answer holds one E, a guess with two Es marks one E and leaves the other grey.
Winning and losing
- Solve it within six guesses to win. Fewer guesses score higher; the first guess is worth the most.
- If your sixth guess misses, the word and its definition are shown.
- Everyone plays the same word each day, and it changes at midnight Melbourne time.
Streaks, past puzzles and Unlimited
- A win extends your streak. A loss, or a missed day, resets it. Your longest streak is kept.
- Past puzzles can be played from a link to their date, without a score: only the day's own puzzle counts toward your stats and streak.
- Once the daily is done, Unlimited replays words from past days so you can keep playing. Unlimited rounds never count toward your stats or streak.
- Finishing every daily on the same day, win or lose, counts toward the all-dailies challenge.
Before your first word
WOTD opens on an empty board of six rows, each five tiles wide. An on-screen keyboard sits below it, with Enter and Backspace on the bottom row.
On a computer you can type straight into the board. Letters, Backspace and Enter behave the same on your physical keyboard as on the on-screen keys.
On a phone, or any window narrower than 1024 pixels, the keyboard docks at the foot of the screen within reach of your thumbs. The board centres itself in the space above.
A sound way to start
Your first guess has one job: test as many common letters as you can. Choose a word with five different letters and at least two vowels.
Avoid a repeated letter in your opener. A double spends a tile on a letter you are already testing, which tells you less.
For your second guess, bring in five fresh letters rather than chasing a single yellow. Two broad guesses usually reveal more than one careful guess.
Plurals count as guesses even though the answer is always a base word. That makes a plural a handy probe for a letter you want to test, as long as you never expect it to win.
Reading the board as it fills
Treat every guess as a filter. A green letter is fixed in place, so build each later guess around it.
A yellow letter rules out one position as well as confirming the letter. Move it to a new slot next time so the tile can tell you more.
Before each guess, scan the keyboard rather than the board. Struck-through keys show what is gone, and untouched keys show what you have not tested yet.
By the third or fourth row, list the words that still fit. If several fit, a guess that splits them is often worth more than a guess at one of them.
Mistakes that cost games
Most lost games come from a handful of habits rather than a hard word. Watch for these.
- Reusing a grey letter. A grey key means the letter is out, or out for a second copy, so it cannot help you.
- Guessing one candidate at a time when four greens leave many words possible. A guess that tests several of the missing letters at once is safer.
- Assuming no letter repeats. When the live letters run out, try a double.
- Rushing the last row. Your sixth guess is your final one, so check it against every clue before you press Enter.
- Starting late at night. A game started on its day still counts if you finish within an hour after midnight Melbourne time, but not after that.
Points, streaks and leaderboards on OverTime
A win on your first guess scores 600 points. Each extra guess costs 100, so a sixth-guess win scores 100 and a loss scores nothing.
Your streak grows by one for each win on consecutive days, and your longest streak is kept when it breaks. Results reach the server only from a signed-in account.
The leaderboards rank your best score for today, this week, this month, this season and all time. WOTD also has a Streak board that ranks current streaks.
You can compare yourself with friends or with every player, and ties go to whoever got there first. Your stats page shows how your wins spread across one to six guesses, alongside your losses.
Where to go next
Once the daily is done, Unlimited serves words from past days without touching your stats or streak. It is the right place to try a new opener.
If you enjoy the deduction, Equate applies the same idea to an eight-character maths equation in six tries. Word Grid asks you to trace words through a square of letters instead.