Wordiply Guardian – Rules, Tips and Tricks

After the global success achieved by Wordle following its purchase by The New York Times, The Guardian decided to produce its own competing word game, Wordiply. Since its release, it has gone on to become known as an exciting alternative and a go-to title for many players all over the globe.

Wordiply game rules and how to play

Although the idea behind Wordiply is simple to understand, it can be very difficult to achieve the highest scores, even for experienced players. Using the given letter combination at the top of the screen each day, players have five attempts to find the longest words possible, which will be scored in two different ways:

  • Length score: The number of letters in the player’s longest word given as a percentage of the number of letters in the longest possible word. E.g. if your longest word is 5-letters and the maximum playable word is 10-letters, the length score will be 50% (5 / 10).
  • Letter score: The sum of the total number of letters used in each of your played words. E.g. if you play five 8-letter words, your letter score will be 40 (5 x 8).

Players can experiment with different word variations as much as they like to maintain a high letter count, as long as the words are unique and included in the game’s word list. However, always remember that the letters given must be placed in the exact same order as they are shown for each of your created words.

1. When the game begins, players are shown a series of letters at the top of the screen within purple boxes. The number of boxes can differ for each daily puzzle.

Letter sequence for the level

2. Using these letters in the order they are presented, players must try to create the longest possible words they can. As each word is typed into the submission box, its letter count will be displayed and the letters from the sequence will be styled in bold to show the player that they have been used correctly.

Inputting a first word for submission

3. Once the word has been entered, the player must hit enter or click/tap “submit” for the word to be played. You cannot enter the same word multiple times. The word will be displayed once more alongside its letter count (under the level’s puzzle sequence) to remind you that it has been played.

Note: If desired, players can also hit the “reveal” button at any time to end the game and display the longest possible playable words (for those interested only in length score). However, this will negatively impact your letter score as a reduced number of words will have been played, resulting in a decreased overall letter count.

4. Continue to enter four more words using the letter sequence, remembering to make each solution as long as possible. As before, each time a new word is played, it will be displayed underneath the word that was played previously. 

Interface shows all previously played words, alongside their letter count

5. Once all of your five turns have been entered, the game will end and your length score and letter score will be displayed in a summary infographic. In addition, players will be able to see the longest possible words, all of their guesses and a countdown to the next playable puzzle.

Results screen to show an overview of each puzzle to the player

6. For those that enjoy social gaming, it is even possible to show your final score to family members, friends and colleagues by clicking the “share” button and sending it on.

Now you know the rules and how to play, it is time to have a go for yourself. If you would like to practice before beginning the game competitively, Wordiply even allows players the option to play a warm up round so you can get used to the style of gameplay!

Wordiply tips and tricks

Many word game enthusiasts love the level of challenge that Wordiply provides but still feel they do not know how they can get better at the game. If this is the case for you, take a look at some of Wordsrated’s best rated strategies to make the most out of the given letters, so you can begin building longer words with ease!

Letter placement: Remember that the letter sequence provided can appear at the beginning, middle or end of any of the words you decide to play. Knowing this, experiment with moving the sequence to different positions to see if you can identify new solutions. For example, the letter combination “DIS” can start the word “DISGRACEFULLY”, be placed in the middle of “FIENDISHLY” and even be used at the end of “GARIBALDIS”.

Make use of prefixes: Once you have found a word that includes the target letters, consider adding a common prefix such as “MIS”, “RE” or “UN”. By doing so, you may be able to add a couple of extra letters to the word you use for your turn, boosting your overall scores and strengthening your vocabulary.

Don’t forget suffixes: Suffixes are also a great option you can use in order to expand the word count of words you have already found. Impress other players by considering common suffixes such as “LY”, “MENT” and “NESS” and watch as your words start to score larger letter counts.

Regular plurals: In a similar manner to the game of Scrabble, pluralizing words can be a great way to increase your points score in Wordiply. This tip is a much used favorite and can be extremely successful, due to being easy for players to remember and also working on a significant number of words.

Try a cheat tool: If you find yourself struggling to find longer words when looking at the provided letter sequence, why not try WordsRated’s Word Finder? To use it, simply enter the given letters in order into the “contains” field and hit “search”. Our useful tool will provide you with a list of playable words listed from longest to shortest for you to play in an instant!

Use time wisely: Wordiply was inspired by Wordle’s daily game format and as such, allows players a full 24 hours to find and submit solutions. With this in mind, each player should try to play the game at their own pace, instead of rushing to place words that could be improved upon with a little additional thought.

So there you have it, a number of useful strategies to help you elevate your Wordiply skills to the next level. Try it out and see if you can beat your friends’ letter scores or even achieve a 100% length score by learning and using our recommended techniques!

Wordiply dictionary

To prevent the game from including extremely long obscure words that people are unlikely to play and risk demotivating them from further play, Wordiply’s designers decided to develop and use a custom word list. It was finalized by opting for common words found in at least 3 out of 6 different dictionaries that varied between American English, British English and international sources, blended together with some additional terms that were believed to be too essential to miss out.

Wordiply app

Unlike popular NYT games such as Letter Boxed, Connections or Spelling Bee,  there is not a Wordiply app presently available on the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. However, those who wish to begin playing on phone, tablet or other portable devices can still do so by navigating to Wordiply through their browser of choice and beginning today’s puzzle.

Wordiply vs. other word games

Due to the high demand for word games of different types, each title released needs to demonstrate unique features to stand out from competitors. Even though Wordiply shares many similarities with other popular word games, it also showcases three key differentiators that help it to appeal to gamers of all abilities, ages and backgrounds.

  • Multiple correct answers: For each puzzle given, there can be multiple words that contain the maximum number of letters achievable. This allows players to be more creative in their chosen answers, knowing that there isn’t just a single word to solve in each level.
  • Ending the game early: As there are two different scoring systems in Wordiply, players who are only interested in the length score can choose to end the game early after any of their guesses. The length score is only based upon the maximum number of letters found in a word and if a player thinks they have found the longest word they can find early on, they may prefer to compare it to the official answers as soon as possible.
  • Warm up mode: This mode gives players the chance to test their abilities instead of jumping into competitive gameplay straight away. By allowing for this functionality, each player can get into the right frame of mind before attempting the real thing, potentially helping them to find longer words that can score them more points later on.