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Official gameplay manual
How to Play Gridling: Multi-Length Word Puzzle Guide
Gridling is a flexible English word puzzle: choose a four, five, six, or seven-letter challenge, then identify the hidden word in no more than six valid guesses.
👉 Back to Live Game Layout - Play 4-7 Letters Now!The core rules
Each game begins with an empty six-row grid. Type a word that matches the selected length and press Enter. Gridling checks that the guess is a legal dictionary word before scoring every letter. A colour appears only after a complete, accepted guess, so typing and deleting letters never reveals information early.
Use the feedback from one row to improve the next. A letter may be correct, present elsewhere, or absent. Repeated letters are scored carefully: one matching letter in the answer cannot make two copies in a guess look present. You win by placing every letter correctly before the sixth row is used.
- Select the word length and play mode.
- Enter a valid English word using the physical or on-screen keyboard.
- Read the tile feedback from left to right.
- Reuse confirmed letters, reposition present letters, and avoid absent letters.
- Solve the word within six accepted guesses.
Choose a 4, 5, 6, or 7-letter puzzle
The length selector changes both the answer size and the vocabulary strategy. Short puzzles have fewer positions but can be deceptively ambiguous. Longer puzzles provide more letter evidence while demanding broader vocabulary and stronger pattern recognition.
4Quick
Fast rounds with compact patterns.
5Classic
The balanced default challenge.
6Strategic
More clues and combinations.
7Expert
Long patterns and rare structures.
Daily Mode versus Unlimited Mode
Play at your own pace and request a fresh puzzle whenever you want. It is ideal for practice, experimenting with opening words, or switching lengths.
Interactive result guide
Select each example row to expand its explanation. The same states appear on the on-screen keyboard after a guess.
Correct SpotEmerald green · exact letter and position
Green confirms that the letter belongs exactly where you placed it. Keep that letter in the same position for later guesses.
Present but Wrong SpotWarm ochre yellow · correct letter, different position
Yellow confirms that the answer contains the letter, but not in this position. Move it to an untested position in the next guess.
Absent LetterDark muted grey · not used by the answer
Grey means the answer does not use that copy of the letter. On the keyboard, an absent key becomes visibly recessed so it cannot be confused with an untried key.
A reliable solving strategy
Start with a word containing several common letters rather than repeated characters. Once feedback appears, prioritise positional information over testing every remaining letter.
Use constraints, not guesses at random
Write down the fixed green positions mentally, then list the positions that each yellow letter cannot occupy. A valid next guess should respect those constraints while introducing useful new letters.
Watch repeated letters
If one copy is coloured and another is grey, the answer may contain only one copy. Gridling scores duplicates against the actual number of matching letters, preventing false clues.
Use accessible play when colour is not enough
The accessibility control adds symbols and border styles to every evaluated tile and key. Correct uses a tick and solid border, present uses a dot and double border, and absent uses a cross and dashed border. Reduced-motion preferences are respected automatically.