Wordle’s format, one puzzle a day that everyone plays and can share, spawned hundreds of imitators. Most vanished within a year. The ones below have lasted because they changed something meaningful: the number of boards, the kind of knowledge, or the type of thinking. All are free, daily, and playable in a browser. Times are rough; you know your own pace. Brisk is on the list, once, in the section it belongs to.
Word deduction
Closest to Wordle: guess a word, get feedback, narrow it down.
| Game | What you do | Time | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quordle | Four Wordles at once, nine guesses shared across all boards. | 5–10 min | The best step up in difficulty without changing the rules. |
| Octordle | Eight boards, thirteen guesses. | 10–15 min | For when Quordle has become routine. |
| Dordle | Two boards, seven guesses. | 3–5 min | The gentlest multi-board variant. |
| Absurdle | An adversarial Wordle that changes its secret word to avoid your guesses. | 5 min | Unlimited plays; a genuinely different way to think about the game. |
| Waffle | Rearrange letters in a waffle-shaped grid to form six words in fifteen swaps. | 5 min | Wordle feedback colours, anagram brain. |
| Crosswordle | Reverse Wordle: reconstruct the grid of guesses that led to a solution. | 5–10 min | Deduction-heavy and satisfying. |
Words, different rules
Daily word games that are not about guessing one word.
| Game | What you do | Time | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections | Sort sixteen words into four hidden groups. | 3–8 min | Now the most played daily game after Wordle. Free. |
| NYT Spelling Bee | Make words from seven letters, always using the centre one. | Open-ended | Partly paywalled; the free version stops at a point. |
| Semantle | Guess a word by meaning; feedback is semantic similarity, not letters. | 10–30 min | Hard and strange, in a good way. |
| Contexto | Like Semantle with a friendlier ranking display. | 10–20 min | The easier way into meaning-based guessing. |
| Redactle | Uncover a redacted Wikipedia article by guessing words. | 15–40 min | For a longer sitting. |
Wordle with numbers, and other games like Wordle but not words
The most common request after “games like Wordle” is a version without letters. These are the ones that last.
| Game | What you do | Time | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nerdle | Guess an eight-character equation with Wordle-style feedback. | 5 min | The best-known maths Wordle. Has mini and speed variants. |
| Mathler | Find the calculation that equals today’s number. | 3–5 min | Gentler than Nerdle; the target is given. |
| Sumplete | Delete numbers from a grid so rows and columns hit their targets. | 5–15 min | Sudoku-adjacent deduction with sizes from 3×3 to 9×9. |
| Brisk | Six timed questions a day: two maths, two words, two number patterns, ranked against everyone who played. | 2 min | Ours. Mixed skills, answers explained, no signup. |
| Squardle | Find words in a letter grid, Boggle-style, with a daily board. | 10 min | Word search meets daily puzzle. |
Geography and trivia
Same daily rhythm, different knowledge.
| Game | What you do | Time | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldle | Identify a country from its silhouette; feedback is distance and direction. | 2–5 min | The classic geography spin-off. |
| Globle | Guess the mystery country; colour shows how close you are. | 3–10 min | Hotter-colder on a globe. |
| Tradle | Guess the country from its export treemap. | 3–5 min | Surprisingly educational. |
| Framed | Name the film from six successive stills. | 2 min | Cinema trivia with a Wordle structure. |
How to choose
Pick two or three, not ten. A daily routine works because it is small. If you enjoy Wordle for the deduction, Quordle and Crosswordle extend it. If you enjoy it for the words, Connections and Spelling Bee. If you want the daily structure without the words, Nerdle, Sumplete or Brisk. For why the once-a-day format is so sticky, and whether it does you any good, see is Wordle good for your brain?
Common questions
What is the most popular game like Wordle?
NYT Connections, which the Times reports as its second most played game after Wordle. Among independent games, Quordle and Worldle have the largest followings.
Are there games like Wordle that are not about words?
Yes. Nerdle and Mathler use equations, Sumplete and Brisk use numbers and logic, and Worldle, Globle and Tradle use geography. All keep the once-a-day format.
Which are free?
Everything listed is free to play at the time of writing. Some NYT games require a Games subscription for full access; Wordle and Connections do not.