Pinteza/Guides/Best daily word games
Best free daily word games to play
A good daily word game gives everyone the same puzzle, takes a minute or two, and leaves you wanting tomorrow's. Below are the ones we actually keep in rotation. Most run in a browser with nothing to install. One of them is ours, and we say so plainly when we get to it.
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Pinteza
This is the one we make, so treat the praise with a pinch of salt. The reason it earns a spot: the daily word is not always five letters. Some days it is six, some days seven, and the long days hand you an extra guess. That small change keeps the puzzle from going stale after a few weeks.
Beyond the daily there are four more ways to play, including a weekly Chaos mode that bends one rule at a time and a one-versus-one duel against a friend. It is free, needs no account, and Practice, Sprint and Chaos play offline. It also treats European Portuguese as a real language rather than a Brazilian list with the accents changed.
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The New York Times word games
The obvious starting point. The famous five-letter daily is still free to play, and its sibling puzzles are excellent: Connections asks you to sort sixteen words into four hidden groups, and Strands is a themed word search where the answers snake across the board. If you only ever play one thing every morning, it is probably going to be one of these.
Worth knowing: the Times moved several of its games behind a Games subscription during 2025, so a few of the older favourites are no longer free. Check what is open before you get attached.
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Quordle
Four grids at once, nine guesses total, and every word you type is fired at all four boards. It sounds chaotic and it is, in a good way. Your opening word suddenly matters a lot more when it has to work four times over. A natural next step once the standard five-letter puzzle stops making you sweat.
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Octordle
Eight boards, thirteen guesses. This is the deep end. It is more of a bookkeeping exercise than a quick coffee break, so it is not for every morning, but on a slow Sunday it is genuinely satisfying to untangle. Play Quordle first.
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Waffle
The clever one. Instead of guessing, you rearrange a waffle-shaped grid of six overlapping words, and you only get fifteen swaps to sort the whole thing out. It rewards planning rather than vocabulary, which makes it feel different from everything else here. Short, and a nice change of pace.
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Termo
The best-known Portuguese daily by a distance, and it is free with no ads. One thing to flag if you are in Portugal: it runs on a Brazilian word list, so you will hit words and spellings that are not how we write here. Plenty of Portuguese players have grumbled about exactly that. It is still good. Just know what you are getting.
A few more worth a look
If you want to ease in, Dordle is the two-board version and a gentler jump than Quordle. If you like a puzzle that makes you think sideways, semantic guessing games ask you to find the secret word by meaning rather than letters, which is a completely different kind of frustrating. And for Portuguese players who want a European-Portuguese option online, Treta and AbraPalavra (run by the newspaper Observador) are both worth a try.
Prefer one on your phone?
Pinteza is a free daily word game for iPhone and Android, in English and European Portuguese. One word a day, five modes, no account.
See PintezaFAQ
What is the best daily word game to play?
The best one is the one you will open every day. If you want the biggest shared audience, start with the New York Times' five-letter daily. If you want the word length to change and more than one mode, try Pinteza. If you play in Portuguese and live in Portugal, look for a European-Portuguese option rather than the Brazilian default.
Are there good free word games with no download?
Yes. Most of the games above run in a web browser with nothing to install, including the New York Times' free daily, Quordle, Octordle, and Waffle. If you would rather have one as a proper app on your phone, Pinteza is a free download for iPhone and Android.
Is there a daily word game in European Portuguese?
Yes, though most Portuguese options use Brazilian spelling and vocabulary. Pinteza is written in real European Portuguese (and English). Treta and AbraPalavra are two web-based European-Portuguese options as well.
Keep reading: how to win in fewer guesses and how to keep a streak alive. Back to all guides.