About Don't Guess
The word game where losing means winning at spelling.
Why this game exists
Somewhere along the way, daily word games taught millions of people to hunt a hidden word in six guesses. Don't Guess asks the opposite question: how long can you keep yourself from finding it? It turns out that dodging a word while the rules herd you toward it is a completely different kind of puzzle - less deduction, more escape artistry.
We loved the reverse-guessing genre but kept running into the same wall: one puzzle per day. Don't Guess was built so that anyone can play the moment the itch strikes - an unlimited mode with endless fresh rounds, plus a classic shared Daily for streaks and bragging rights.
What makes it different
- Unlimited rounds, free, forever - plus a shared Daily challenge.
- A live safe-word counter and danger meter, so you can feel the trap closing in real time.
- 5 undos per round with a visible undo history - the classic reverse-game rules, unchanged.
- Post-round analysis showing the safe words you could have played.
- A word journal that collects every hidden word with its dictionary definition - vocabulary practice on the side.
- Achievements, streaks, per-mode statistics, shareable emoji results.
- Dark and light themes, a high-contrast colorblind palette, reduced-motion support, and full keyboard play.
- Installable as an app and playable offline.
Under the hood
Don't Guess is a hand-built, dependency-free web game - plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, no frameworks, no account system, no tracking scripts of our own. Your statistics live in your browser's local storage and never leave your device.
The dictionaries are compiled from open-license word lists: the dwyl/english-words project (released under The Unlicense) supplies the playable dictionary, and the answer pool is drawn from the most common English words per the google-10000-english list, hand-filtered for fairness and family-friendliness. Word-journal definitions come from the free Free Dictionary API, with deeper links to Wiktionary.
How the word lists are built
The game keeps two separate lists, and in a reverse game the distinction matters even more than usual. The guess list holds 15,909 accepted five-letter words - deliberately enormous, because your whole strategy depends on being able to reach for obscure words to stay safe. The answer list holds only 866 common words, hand-filtered from a usage-frequency list.
That gap is the game. If every dictionary word could be the hidden answer, avoiding it would be luck. Because the target is always a common word, playing an uncommon one is a genuine, learnable skill rather than a coin flip.
What the answer list tells you about strategy
We measured all 866 answers, and the result inverts everything the classic game teaches. In ordinary Wordle you open with the most common letters. Here those letters are exactly what will kill you:
| Letter | Share of answers containing it | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| E | 51.5% | The most dangerous letter in the game |
| A | 41.1% | Avoid |
| R | 39.8% | Avoid |
| V, K | 6.9% | Fairly safe |
| X | 2.3% | Safe |
| Q | 1.3% | Very safe |
| Z | 0.9% | Very safe |
| J | 0.8% | The safest letter you can play |
Scoring every accepted guess by the combined risk of its distinct letters makes the contrast stark. ALERT, one of the strongest openers on our classic board, scores 191% here. FUZZY scores 39% - roughly five times safer. PUPPY (41%) and YUMMY (42%) are close behind. Those are the openings to learn.
One warning the data makes clear: 80.9% of answers contain none of J, Z, Q, X, V or K. Leaning entirely on rare letters keeps you safe early but teaches you almost nothing about the hidden word, and in the late rows, when the clues have boxed you in, ignorance is what loses the round. The skill is knowing when to stop playing safe. Our how-to-play guide covers that turn.
Accuracy and corrections
The figures above are computed directly from the word bank this game ships to your browser, so they describe the exact list in play, not general English. We recompute them whenever the list changes. If a number looks wrong or a word seems unfair, email us and we will recheck and correct it.
Advertising
The site is free to play and supported by a small number of display ads. Ads are clearly labelled, kept out of the game area and away from the controls, and never disguised as game content. They are governed by our privacy policy, where you can also manage your consent choices. No interstitials, no pop-ups, no autoplaying video, and nothing that interrupts a round in progress.
Contact
Found a bug? Missing a legitimate word? Think a statistic is off? Want to say hi?
Email: donotguesstheword@gmail.com
This is a small independent project, so replies come from a person rather than a support queue. We read everything and usually respond within a few days. If you are reporting a bug, it helps to include your browser and the word involved.
Fair play & trademarks
Don't Guess is an independent game. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with The New York Times Company, Wordle, or dontwordle.com. WORDLE is a registered trademark of The New York Times Company. Game mechanics are not subject to copyright, and everything on this site - code, design, word lists and text - is an original implementation built from the open-license sources credited above.