Daily edition / 15
Daily Word Groups
Sort a set of words into hidden groups linked by a shared idea — a daily alternative to Connections-style puzzles.
Today's puzzle (UTC)
Loading today's puzzle…
Leaderboard
Ranked by mistakes (lower is better).
Playing as
Loading…
Getting started
How to Play Daily Word Groups
- Select words that share a connection.
- Submit a complete group and uncover every category.
Tips
Tips & Strategy
- Find the group with the most specific or unusual connection first — broad themes like 'things that are large' can overlap with other categories and lead you into traps set by the puzzle designers.
- Watch for deliberate red herrings. Words that seem obvious members of one group sometimes actually belong to another, and spotting these misdirections is part of the challenge.
- Try to identify a complete set of four before committing to a guess. Partial confidence in three words is not enough — make sure the fourth word fits the theme just as cleanly.
- If you are torn between two possible groupings, use process of elimination: solve the categories you are most certain about first, and the remaining words will reveal the harder group.
- Use the Shuffle button if the current word order is throwing you off — the same 16 words rearranged can make a pattern jump out that wasn't visible before.
- Play Again pulls a different day's already-published puzzle from a roughly 31-puzzle bank rather than generating a new one, so if you replay enough times in one sitting you can eventually see a repeat — it's meant for extra practice, not an endless new-puzzle machine.
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do the groups work?
- There are 16 words on the board split into exactly four hidden groups of four. Every word belongs to one — and only one — group linked by a shared theme or association.
- What do the colors represent?
- Each color corresponds to one of the four groups. The colors are only revealed after you submit a correct set — they are not shown on the board in advance.
- How many mistakes am I allowed?
- Four. Each wrong guess uses one of four dots shown at the top of the board, and once all four are gone the round ends and every group is revealed, whether you solved them or not.
- Can I reuse a word in a different group?
- No. Each word belongs to exactly one group. Once a correct group is found and removed, those words are gone from the board.
- Does the puzzle reset every day?
- Yes. A fresh set of 16 words and four categories is available each day at midnight UTC.
- Is there a hint if I think I'm close to a group?
- Yes — if three of your four selected words belong to the same still-hidden group, submitting shows 'One away!' instead of 'Not quite!', so you know to swap just one tile rather than rethink the whole guess. It still costs a mistake either way.
- Are there other games like Connections I can play for free?
- Yes — that's what Daily Word Groups is built to be. Sixteen words, four hidden groups of four, four incorrect guesses allowed, and a new puzzle every day at midnight UTC, all free with no account needed. It's my own build in the category-sorting format NYT Connections popularized, not an official Connections product.
- Are the daily puzzles generated automatically or written by hand?
- Hand-authored, not generated — each day's 16 words and four categories live in their own dated JSON file, and there's no algorithm assembling them from a word list. The game just fetches whichever file matches today's UTC date.
- What happens if there's no puzzle published for a given day?
- The fetch simply fails and the page shows "No puzzle available for today. Check back tomorrow!" instead of an empty or broken board — it's a plain HTTP-status check, not a crash.
- What happens to the board the moment I run out of mistakes?
- All four categories reveal at once and the remaining word tiles disappear together — it's not a gradual reveal. Whatever you hadn't solved yet appears in the same found-categories list as the ones you did solve, just without your input.
Next on the desk
More daily puzzles to play after Daily Word Groups
The Daily WordWord Games
A focused five-letter word guessing game in the style of Wordle, refreshed every day at midnight UTC.
Daily WaffleWord Games
Swap letter tiles to uncover six hidden words — three across, three down — before your swaps run out.
Daily Spelling BeeWord Games
Spell as many words as you can from seven letters in this free daily Spelling Bee puzzle — every word needs the center letter, and finding the pangram earns a bonus.
Daily Word SearchWord Games
Find eight hidden words in a themed letter grid — a free daily word search puzzle with a new category (animals, space, weather, and more) every day.
Or browse all word games on the site and the full daily game list.