🗃️ Word Groups
17 playsWord Groups
Sixteen words, four hidden sets of four — and at least one word that seems to fit two.
About Word Groups
Sixteen words are laid out together, and they divide into four groups of four that share something: a category, a hidden word, a phrase they complete. The setter's craft lies in the overlaps. Most puzzles contain words that plausibly belong to more than one group, placed there deliberately, and the solver who commits to the first four that look alike is usually walking into the trap. Groups are graded from the most direct to the most oblique, and four mistakes are allowed before the answers are shown. A fresh puzzle is set each day, with earlier puzzles kept in an archive for longer sittings.
How to Play
Select four words you believe share a connection, then press Submit. A correct group is set aside and coloured by difficulty; a wrong one costs one of your four mistakes, and a near miss is reported as “One away”. Shuffle the board whenever the layout is misleading you. Find all four groups to finish.
💡 Tips & Strategy
Look for the red herring before you look for a group. Scan the sixteen words for any that could belong to two categories at once — a word that is both a card game and a structure, say, or both a fish and part of a compound. The setter put those there on purpose, and a group that seems to have five members is the surest sign: one of the five belongs elsewhere, and deciding which is usually the key to the whole board.
Think beyond meaning. The hardest group is rarely a plain category; it is words that precede or follow a common word, words hiding a smaller word, homophones, or anagrams. When four words resist every sensible category, try adding a word in front or behind each of them and see whether a phrase appears.
Solve from certainty, not from speed. Submit the group you can defend word by word, and leave the tempting-but-loose one until the board is smaller — each correct group removes four words and often makes the last two groups obvious. Four mistakes is a slim allowance, so never submit a hunch while a safer set is available.
A near miss is information. "One away" tells you three of your four are right, so swap a single word — ideally the one you were least sure of — rather than rebuilding the guess. And shuffle the tiles when stuck: the original layout places misleading neighbours side by side, and a fresh arrangement often breaks the spell.