Connections
Group 16 words into 4 secret categories. Color-coded difficulty — yellow is easiest, purple is hardest. You have 4 mistakes!
Select 4 words that share a category
About Connections
Connections is inspired by the viral New York Times word puzzle. You're given 16 words and must sort them into 4 groups of 4, where each group shares a hidden common theme. The categories are color-coded by difficulty: Yellow is the easiest, Green is medium, Blue is harder, and Purple is the trickiest. You have 4 mistakes — use them wisely!
Controls
- Click a word — Select or deselect it (up to 4 at a time)
- Submit — Check if your selected 4 words form a valid group (activates when 4 are selected)
- Deselect All — Clear your current selection
- Shuffle — Randomly rearrange the remaining words on the board
- New Puzzle — Skip to a new puzzle (ends the current round)
How to Play
- Read all 16 words and look for groups of 4 that share something in common.
- Select exactly 4 words, then press Submit to check your guess.
- If correct, the group is revealed with its category name and color.
- If wrong, you lose a mistake. After 4 mistakes, all categories are revealed.
- Win by finding all 4 groups without using all your mistakes!
- Tip: the yellow category is always the most straightforward. Start there!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yellow = easiest category, Green = medium, Blue = harder, Purple = hardest/trickiest. The color is revealed when you solve a category, or when the game ends.
If you submit 4 words and 3 of them belong to the same category but 1 doesn't fit, you'll see a "One Away!" hint. You still lose a mistake, but now you know you're close!
There are 25 handcrafted puzzles that rotate randomly. You can keep playing new puzzles by pressing "New Puzzle" or "Next Puzzle" after finishing one.
Yes — your total puzzles played and current win streak are saved in your browser and persist between sessions.