A daily word puzzle for kids: guess the word in six tries

Every child at a level gets the same word on the same day, and it changes at midnight Mountain Time. Each level has its own word, so a child who finishes can try the next level up. Medium and the levels above it also have a "Pick from three" button that turns the puzzle into three word boxes at any time.

Daily Word is free through the end of 2026, with no account, no ads and nothing to download.

How to play

1. Read the sentence. It comes from a Peabody story, with one word missing. Tap the speaker to hear it read aloud.
2. Guess the word. Type it with the letter tiles or a keyboard. At Easy, tap one of three word boxes instead.
3. Read the marks. Every letter gets a mark, shown as a shape and a colour.
4. Try again. You have 6 tries. Each one tells you more about the word.
5. Stuck? Tap for a letter hint, up to 2, and then the game offers three words to pick from.
6. See the word. Win or miss, you see the word, what it means when the story says, the whole sentence, and a button to read the story it came from.

What the marks mean

If the word is FROG and you guess FORM, the marks are F ●, O ◆, R ◆, M ○. The F is right, the O and the R are in the word but somewhere else, and there is no M. The shapes mean a child who finds some colours hard to tell apart can play just as well.

How it differs from the grown-up guessing game

Many families search for a kid-sized Wordle, the daily five-letter guessing game from The New York Times. Daily Word is Peabody's own game and has no tie to that game or to The New York Times. It keeps the idea of one word a day and six tries, and changes the rest for children:

• There is a clue. The word fits a sentence from a story, so a guess is a reading choice, not a shot in the dark.
• The word fits the reader. Easy words have 3 to 4 letters; Super words have 6 to 7.
• Help is built in. Letter hints, then three words to pick from, so every child can finish.
• No streaks and no sharing. A missed day can still be played later, and the word is never posted anywhere.
• No timer and no red X. A miss says "Nice try!", shows the word and its meaning, and points to the story.

What it practises

Where the words come from

Every word is from a story in Peabody's free library, at the reading level the puzzle is for. A sentence that two words on the list could both fit is left out, and every word passes the same check Peabody uses on what children type. The list is fixed in advance and only ever grows at the end, so the word for any day never changes.

More word games

• Spelling Bee practice: hear a word, then pick its spelling from three boxes, with word lists by grade.
• Word Guess: guess a hidden word one letter at a time before the balloons pop.
• Word Scramble, Word Find and Crosswords in the Activity Book.
• Deep Dig: a digging game where you read the word on each block to crack it open.

Questions parents ask

Is Daily Word free?

Yes. It is free through the end of 2026, with no account, no ads and no download. It plays in the browser on a phone, a tablet, a Chromebook or a computer.

What age is it for?

Pre-K to 8th grade, in four levels. Easy, for Pre-K and kindergarten, is three big word boxes and short words. Medium is for 1st and 2nd grade, Hard for 3rd to 5th, and Super for 6th to 8th, with words of up to 7 letters.

How is it different from the five-letter game grown-ups play?

It gives a clue sentence from a story, sizes the word to the child's level, marks letters with shapes as well as colours, offers hints and three-word help, and keeps no streak. It is Peabody's own game.

Does it keep anything about my child?

Only on your device: the day's guesses are kept in this browser so a reload picks up where your child left off. Nothing is sent to Peabody or anyone else.

When does the word change?

At midnight Mountain Time, every day. A game left open overnight picks up the new word.

Can we print it, or play an earlier day?

Yes to both. Print makes two black-and-white pages: the sentence and six rows of empty tiles for a pencil, then the answer and its story. After each word the last week's days are a tap away, and any day from the last 60 can be played again.