Depending on how good you are at Wordle, it can be a little frustrating if you want to play for longer than two to five minutes. But luckily, if you've got an addiction, there's a solution that doesn't involve buying a subscription to access other New York Times games. Good games like Wordle can be hard to come by, so I've compiled a list of every game I think is worth playing if you can't get enough of your Wordle fix.
Some of these games are just like Wordle in that you guess letters to a word or words, and some of them are a little more off-piste, with math or Pokémon as the name of the guessing game. Either way, relax and enjoy your time with these fantastic games on your mobile phone and Switch, many of which are completely free.
The best games like Wordle are:
1. Gubbins
Gubbins is the best thing since sliced bread, according to not only me, but seemingly all kinds of award panels - from the ACMI Institute to the Apple App Store, everybody wants a turn with this extremely fun and quirky word game, designed by small Australian studio, Folly.
Gubbins offers a fresh experience to many others out there, with fun colors, great sound design, and innovative gameplay with the so-called 'Gubbins' - little creatures who positively and negatively affect your game in various ways, whether that's being able to move your letters on the board or inserting suffixes to make your words longer.
The free version of the game offers you one daily play, but there's also the full version with a small pricetag of $5.99 for hours of genuine fun, with a variety of game modes. These modes include Pencil, where you do away with the other Gubbins and just keep letters and pencils, a sort of wild letter akin to the blank Scrabble tile. And, thanks to legendary activist, scientist, and influencer Hank Green, ten percent of your money goes to charity. It's a win-win. If you opt to play Gubbins on iPad, you won't regret it - you get more size and more fun. Check out the other best games on iPad while you're here.
Play for free: iOS and Android
2. SpellTower
SpellTower has been around for ages, but if you haven't heard of it, it's a game akin to the feeling of wordsearches and Tetris having a baby. The aim of the game is very wordsearch-esque, but once you've found a word, that's it - the tiles you used are gone, and often the words take other tiles with it. A strangely addictive game, you can easily lose hours trying to find the perfect word to set you up with the right letters for your next.
In our Spelltower+ review, Jarret Green talks about how SpellTower+, the Apple Arcade version, "sits on the shoulders of that early mobile game king and wears the crown well in its own right". Its variety of game modes gave us the impression that the game is both "a tense nightmare" and "a great and interesting challenge". Do with that knowledge what you will.
With some smooth jazz and a satisfying gameplay loop, SpellTower is sure to keep you relaxed and happy while you wait for your daily Wordle reset - although, if you want a daily mode, SpellTower has you covered there, too. And, if you want even more daily objectives to tackle, be sure to head over to our best free mobile games.
Play for free: iOS, Apple Arcade, and Android
3. Nerdle
Nerdle, like all games ending in 'rdle', is another Wordle spin-off, but it tests a completely new range of skills, making it a different kind of fun. Nerdle is Wordle, but for mathematical equations. Submit an eight-part calculation and have the board tell you if your numbers and operations are part of the equation or not, and if they're in the right place.
Nerdle is a browser game, meaning it's super easy to pick up and play at any time. But to the word-oriented person like me, numbers can prove a challenge - but that's what daily games are for, no? It's the perfect refresher to grade school math so that you can still do percentages and long-division however old you are. Or, maybe you've perfected your word gaming skills, and you think it's time to move on. Either way, challenge your brain with something new.
If you're a math and word whiz who finds Nerdle too tame to keep your mind young and spritely, you may want some further brain training. To improve your IQ in all kinds of ways, wordy and otherwise, check out our guide to the best brain training games for some real head-scratchers.
Play for free: web browser
4. Baba is You
If you're looking to get your words on Nintendo Switch, Baba is You is by far the most inventive and original game you could hope for. A combination of puzzles and words, this delightful platformer gives you the opportunity to use that lateral thinking. Can't figure out how to open a door? Try moving the words 'is open' next to 'door'.
The puzzles aren't all that straightforward, of course, and this little gem breaks open the word game genre with its interesting level design - even better is that it's affected by you and the sentences you create. If you need a change of pace from Wordle-likes, we think this is the one to go for.
Cemented in indie royalty with thousands of rave reviews on Steam, there could be a case for Baba is You featuring in our guide to the best indie games. The competition is fierce, though, even despite the game's unique charm - but see for yourself whether you think it should make the cut. I have a feeling you won't regret it.
Check prices: Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck
5. Semantle
Semantle is my favorite game that no one's heard of. Known as 'hard Wordle' by some, Semantle is, as the name would suggest, more about the meaning of the word than it is the letters. Guess a concept far from the word and you'll be 'cold', meaning you're only up to 20% similar to the definition. Time to switch track.
When you get warmer, you're eventually given your position on the top thousand closest words to the daily word, and before you know it, you're semantically a word away. Tried 'music'? Try 'musician'. You'll discover that 'death' and 'classroom' couldn't be further apart from each other.
Guesses are numbered so you can challenge yourself to figure the word out in as few tries as possible, and you can also see the average number of guesses it took everyone else. It's a skill to perfect, but one that challenges even the smartest of linguists. You can find it on iOS, Android, or your browser, alongside more of the best browser games out there.
Play for free: iOS, Android, and web browser
6. Costcodle
On a more fun note, Costcodle is a daily price guessing game for - yep, you guessed it - Costco. Each day, the game gives you a new product, and you have to guess how much it costs in USD. If you're close, you're rewarded with an orange box highlight. Get it right? Green, of course.
Know someone who gave up on groceries and only orders Doordash? The game produces hilarious results for those who haven't got their finger on the pulse of the times, and offers a sobering check in with the reality of inflation. Bread is not that cheap anymore, people.
If being in tune with the sound of economic crisis sounds like the opposite of a good time to you right now, we understand. Just select a different game from this list - or, if you want to go heavily into denial, we have a list of the best simulation games, so you can worry about fake problems rather than real ones.
Play for free: web browser
7. Octordle
If Wordle doesn't quite offer you the complete mind-frazzle you're hoping for, don't worry, because Octordle takes it exactly seven steps further. Almost impossibly, eight words will be on the board at one time, leaving you to scramble around with different combinations.
Begin with your daily Wordle start word if you want - but 'ouija' or 'anime' won't save you from needing further guesses. This is either going to be extremely fun for you, or, if you have ADHD like me, you might forget about one or two of the words entirely, and it becomes frustrating. Think you can keep up? Give Octordle a shot for free every day.
If you're somehow addicted to the feeling of keeping track of a vast number of things at the same time, you should check out our guide to the best strategy games. Octordle is easily as hard as the games on this list, if not worse as you realize your English education failed you.
Play for free: web browser
8. Catfishing
Catfishing is a browser-based daily game that requires you to guess words based on their Wikipedia entries. A page like "video game - first-person shooter game - games developed by Riot Games - 2020 releases" would, of course, lead you to Valorant - but not all of them are easy. Catfishing tests you on the niche aspects of history, sports, geography, literature, and anything else you can think of. If it has a Wikipedia article, you can expect to see it one day.
Catfishing is a great daily game for its variety, with ten concepts to guess per day, but it's also great because you can easily and freely see other people's responses. What was obviously a 'Serena Williams' Wikipedia entry will crack you up when you see 'Kobe Bryant' guesses.
You can also see how many words the average person got right that day. This gives you a benchmark for your general knowledge - can you improve? You can also play previous days' challenges, increasing your skills in no time at all. Watch out, pub quizzes of the world - they won't know what'll hit them after you become a Catfishing regular. If you want to brush up on your worldly knowledge to become a Catfishing genius, check out the best geography games.
Play for free: web browser
9. Word Salad
Sometimes in our word games, we're looking for simplicity. Word Salad is a mixture of the trusty crossword and the timeless word search, with the game presenting you with a grid in which to find words belonging to a particular genre - for example, in the tutorial, you need to find planets, and later on, you'll find puzzles requiring slightly more complex things, like finding synonyms for 'thievery'. The game will give you the number of letters in the words to find, as well as listing them in alphabetical order for built-in clues.
What's more is that Word Salad has an 'extreme mode', meaning that the challenge doesn't need to stop if you're getting too good. Don't worry though - if you're having the opposite problem, Word Salad allows you to hold down the number at the bottom that indicates how many letters remaining words will be, so that you can get the first letter. Hopefully it's enough for you to work it out!
Play category-based puzzles to find puzzles with words you already know well - this should strengthen your skills and prove to be fun. Personally, I enjoy a good 'countries and their capitals'. The game is free on app stores, with the option to pay £3.99 or equivalent to upgrade to an ad-free version. Not bad, I think, for hours of endless words. For more app-specific word fun, head over to our list of the best word games on mobile.
Play for free: iOS and Android
10. Words with Freds
No, this isn't a typo of 'words with friends' - this is something else altogether. Just in case you wanted the actual Wordle on your Switch, Words with Freds is here to save the day. It's the classic five letter, six guesses situation, with additional color customization and touch screen support.
Not many choose to Wordle on their Switch, but I respect developer Fred Wood for bringing it to us anyway, making it accessible to even those of us who can't afford or don't want a smartphone. A near unlimited Wordle mode is also great, of course, whatever platform it's on.
Though Words with Freds isn't free, it's pretty cheap for one dollar, so if you're trying to leave your phone behind for a weekend or two, it's a great option for a portable word game in the classic Wordle style. Thanks, Fred. For the chronically offline, check out our list for more of the best offline games.
Check prices: Nintendo Switch
11. Squirdle
You might think that this is a silly entry, but hear us out - Squirdle is actually really fun. As the astute reader might have guessed, Squirdle is a Pokémon guessing game in the Wordle style. Guess a randomly selected daily Pokémon by its generation, type, and even its height and weight. As usual, orange if you're close, green if you're right.
It, of course, takes work to have a completely encyclopedic knowledge of all the 'mons, but this game can help you on your way to becoming the coolest member of your friend group. Trust me on that one.
Though it's an unofficial endeavor, I think Squirdle is really well-made for a browser game, and it could easily fit into the best Pokemon games. Okay, that might be a stretch, but Squirdle certainly could help you out in battles within those legendary games. But, if you want to get really good at this one, you should probably check out our Pokédex to help you to revise.
Play for free: web browser
Hopefully, you've found a suitable alternative to Wordle, but if you're still thirsty for knowledge games, keep an eye out for new games like Wordle in our upcoming mobile games guide and our upcoming Switch games guide. If you want to discuss more games with us, head over to our Discord to chat about all things portable gaming and get all the tea.
We have a guide to the best mobile games in case you need even more of a fix, and we also have a guide to the best Switch games, in case you no longer care for the casual nature of word games and fancy heading off on a new adventure.