The five-letter word guessing duel. Hide a five-letter word. Crack theirs first.
You each lock a secret five-letter word, then take turns guessing the other’s. Every guess lights up its tiles: green for the right letter in the right place, yellow for a letter that is in the word somewhere else, grey for a letter that is not in it. You can see your rival’s guesses too, so every clue is a clue for both of you. Crack their word first and you win, but if you crack it going first they get one last guess to equalise.
No account needed: press play and you join as a guest. Create an account later to keep your history and earn a rating.
How to play Word Duel
You each lock a secret five-letter word. It has to be a real word from the game’s list.
Then you take turns guessing the other’s word. Each guess has to be a real five-letter word too.
Green means the right letter in the right place. Yellow means the letter is in the word, but somewhere else. Grey means it is not in the word, or you have already found all its copies.
You see your rival’s guesses and their colours, so every clue helps you both.
Crack their word first to win. You have six guesses.
If you crack the word going first, your rival gets one last guess to equalise. If they crack yours too, it is a draw.
Controls
Type your secret five-letter word (it has to be a real word) and lock it in
On your turn, type a five-letter guess and press Enter
Use the green, yellow and grey tiles to narrow it down
Tips to win
Open with a word that uses common, different letters, like CRANE or SLATE.
Pick a secret with a repeated letter or a rare one. Rivals tend to guess ordinary words first.
Read your rival’s guesses too: the letters they keep trying are hints about how they think.
Use your later guesses to rule out letters, not only to hope for a lucky hit.
How a match works
Open the game on your device and press play.
Get matched with someone straight away, or send a friend your private room link and wait for them to join.
You take turns; each move appears on the other screen as soon as the server accepts it. A match takes about 6 minutes.
Lost your connection? Come back within a minute and the match carries on where it stopped.
Also known as: five letter word game · word guessing duel · two player word game · green and yellow letter game · word battle
Questions
Can I play Word Duel online with a friend?
Yes. Open Word Duel, choose to play a friend and send them the private room link, they open it on their own phone or computer and the match starts when you are both ready. You can also invite a player by username, or take a quick match against whoever is waiting.
Is Word Duel free, and do I need an account?
It is free, with no download and no account needed: press play and you join as a guest. Create an account later if you want to keep your match history and earn a rating on the leaderboard.
Why can I not use any word I like as my secret?
Your rival can only guess words from the game’s list, so your secret has to be on it too, otherwise it could never be found.
Can my rival see my secret word?
No. It stays on the server and is revealed to both of you only when the game ends.
Does going first give an advantage?
A little, so the player who goes second always gets a final guess when the first player cracks the word.
