Letterbox: the daily word game
Guess the five-letter word in six tries. A new word every day.
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Letterbox is Altto’s free daily word game. Guess the five-letter word in six tries. Each guess shows which letters are in the word and which are in the right place. A new word every day at midnight UK time, the same for everyone, plus Unlimited mode when one isn’t enough. Free, no sign-up, British spellings welcome.
- New word daily
- Unlimited play
- Streaks & badges
- Challenge a friend
How to play
How to play Letterbox
- Type any five-letter word and press Enter. It has to be a real word.
- Read the colours. Green: right letter, right place. Gold: the letter is in the word, but somewhere else. Grey: the letter isn’t in the word.
- Use what you’ve learnt for your next guess. You have six tries.
- Share your result as coloured squares (no spoilers) or a score picture, and see how everyone else did today.
- Come back tomorrow. Solve the daily word on consecutive days to build your streak and earn badges. Want more? Unlimited mode never runs out.
If a letter appears twice in your guess but once in the word, only one of them is coloured. Repeated letters in the answer are allowed, so a word like apple can come up.
Tips
Tips to solve it in fewer guesses
Start with common letters
E, A, R, O, T, L, I, S and N turn up most in five-letter words. Openers such as crane, slate, arose or trace test several at once.
Don’t waste the second guess
If the first guess is mostly grey, try five new letters rather than juggling the one you know about.
Mind the endings
Many answers end in -er, -ly, -ch, -ge or -ty, or have a double letter (apple, sweet, jolly). Think about them before you guess.
Move the gold letters
A gold letter can’t be where it was. Put it somewhere new each time to pin down its place.
Hard mode
Turn it on in settings: every green and gold letter you find must be used in later guesses. Wins in Hard mode are marked with a star.
Stuck?
Say the pattern out loud (“blank R blank blank E”) and run through the alphabet. It works better than staring.
At a glance
Letterbox: quick facts
A free five-letter word puzzle with a new word every day and an unlimited practice mode.
Updated
- Price
- Free, with no sign-up, no email and no limit on Unlimited games.
- Rules
- Guess a five-letter word in six tries. Green = right place, gold = in the word elsewhere, grey = not in the word.
- Daily word
- One new word a day, the same for everyone, changing at midnight UK time. The word stays on Altto’s server until you finish, so it can’t be spoiled by peeking at the page.
- Words
- About 1,300 everyday answer words in British spelling (fibre, mould, metre), and about 12,700 words you can guess, including American spellings.
- Keep coming back
- Daily streak, guess history, badges, a daily board of who solved it fastest, levels in Unlimited, and how everyone did today.
- Share
- Coloured squares with no letters, a score picture, or a word of your own for a friend to guess.
- Privacy
- Your games and stats are saved only in your browser. Only your guesses for the daily word are checked on Altto’s server, and they aren’t stored.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is Letterbox?
Letterbox is Altto's free daily word game. You have six tries to guess a five-letter word, and after each guess the tiles show which letters are right. There is a new word every day at midnight UK time, the same for everyone, and an Unlimited mode for as many extra games as you like.
Is Letterbox free?
Yes, completely. There is no sign-up, no email, no app to install and no limit on Unlimited games.
How do you play?
Type any real five-letter word and press Enter. A green tile means the letter is in the word and in the right place, gold means it is in the word but somewhere else, and grey means it is not in the word. Use the clues to guess the word in six tries or fewer.
When does the new word come out?
At midnight UK time every day. Your results show a countdown to the next one.
Is Letterbox the same as Wordle?
No. Letterbox is Altto's own game in the popular five-letter, six-guess style, with its own word list in British spelling, an Unlimited mode, levels, badges, a daily board and words you can send to friends. Wordle is a separate game owned by The New York Times, and Altto is not connected with it.
Can I play more than one word a day?
Yes. The daily word is one a day, but Unlimited mode gives you a new random word every time you finish, and you earn XP and levels as you go.
Does it use British spelling?
Yes. Answers are everyday words in British spelling, such as fibre, metre and mould. You can also guess American spellings; they just won't be the answer.
How does the streak work?
Solve the daily word on consecutive days to build your streak. Miss a day or run out of guesses and it starts again. Your streak, best streak and guess history are saved in your browser.
What is Hard mode?
In Hard mode, any letter you have found (green or gold) must be used in every later guess, and green letters must stay in place. Turn it on in settings before you start a game. Hard-mode wins are marked with a star when you share.
How do I share my result without spoiling it?
Tap Share result after a game. It copies coloured squares showing how you did, with no letters, so friends can still play. You can also make a score picture for your story.
Can I send a word to a friend?
Yes. In your results or stats, type any five-letter word and tap Send it. You get a link to send; your friend guesses your word and can post one back. The word is coded in the link so it is not shown in plain text.
What is the daily board?
Everyone who solves the daily word goes on that day's board, ranked by fewest guesses and then fastest time, under the nickname you use on Altto's tests or a made-up one. Only your first game of the day counts, and the board starts fresh at midnight.
How do you check the daily word fairly?
The daily word stays on Altto's server, which checks each guess and only reveals the word when the game ends. That stops anyone reading it from the page and keeps the daily board fair.
What is a good starting word?
A word with common letters, such as crane, slate, arose or trace. They test several of E, A, R, O, T, L and S at once, the letters that turn up most in five-letter words.
Can a word have the same letter twice?
Yes, answers like apple or sweet can come up. If you guess a letter twice and the word has it once, only one of your copies is coloured.
Is anything stored about me?
Your games, stats, streaks and settings are saved only in your browser. For the daily word, each guess is checked on Altto's server but not stored; only the count of how many people solved it in each number of guesses is kept, to show how everyone did.
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