Worduel
Worduel

Guess the same five-letter word as your rival, turn by turn. 45 seconds a move, first to crack it takes the points

The Worduel journal

Fresh perspectives on words, better guesses and good games with friends

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Wordle 1v1, ranked and free

Worduel is Wordle for two. You and a rival chase the same hidden five-letter word on one shared board, taking turns, and whoever cracks it first wins the duel and takes rating points off the other

Play Wordle 1v1
Price
Free, no ads, no sign-up
A duel
One shared board, 45 seconds a move, the first to solve the word wins
Rating
Everyone starts at 500, and matchmaking looks for a rival near yours
Words
1,088 English answers and 14,855 accepted guesses, thirteen word languages in all
Plays on
Any browser on a phone or a computer, and the iPhone app
Your rival found four letters with SLANT. You read their row, and PLANT was the only word left

How a Wordle 1v1 duel works

  1. Press Play and Worduel finds you an opponent close to your rating
  2. You both go after the same secret word, and every guess lands on one board that you both see
  3. You get 45 seconds a move. Let the clock run out and your turn is skipped, skip too often and the duel is lost
  4. The first to guess the word wins. There is no cap on turns, the board just keeps growing until someone gets it
Aright letter, right spot Rin the word, wrong spot Enot in the word

Every guess helps your rival too

This is what makes Wordle 1v1 a different game from playing alone. The board is shared, so a guess that shows you three green letters shows them to your opponent as well, and they move next

Sometimes the right move is a guess that tells you a lot and them a little. Sometimes it is going straight for the word before they can. And their rows are yours to read: a yellow letter they found is free information, a gray one crosses a letter off without costing you a turn

Rating and ranked matchmaking

Everyone starts at 500. Win and your rating goes up, lose and it goes down, and the swing depends on who you played: beating someone rated above you is worth more than beating someone below. Matchmaking looks for an opponent near your rating, so the duels stay close as you climb

Walking out of a duel halfway counts as a loss, rating drop included. The game asks before it lets you go

Play Wordle 1v1 with a friend

Pick With a friend above the Play button and open a room. You get a four-letter code and a link to send, and whoever opens it lands on the same board as you, with the same hidden word and the same 45 second turns

A friendly duel changes no rating, so there is nothing at stake but the bragging. What it keeps instead is the score of the series: win a round, press One more, and the next word is dealt to both of you. Whoever moved first last time moves second this time, because opening is worth something

The link works whether or not your friend has the game. Tapped on a phone with the app, it opens the app; tapped anywhere else, it opens this page, which is the same game. Nobody has to install anything and nobody has to sign up

Start a room

Wordle 1v1 or the daily Wordle

The daily Wordle gives everyone the same single word and you play it alone. Worduel has no daily limit: finish a duel and the next one is a click away. It adds a clock, a rival and a rating, and every game ends with the meaning of the word, so you walk away with something even after a loss

A new word every game

When the duel ends you get the word with its part of speech, what it means and two example sentences. The meaning comes in your language, the examples stay in the language of the word. Words come in thirteen languages, from English, Spanish and German to Ukrainian, Indonesian and Uzbek, you pick right above the Play button, which makes Worduel a quiet way to build vocabulary

Keep your streak alive

Play one game a day, win or lose, and your streak grows by a day. Miss a day and it starts over. The flame in the top corner shows where you stand

Rather play alone?

Wordle Unlimited is the solo side of Worduel: six tries at a word, no clock and no rival, and a new word as soon as you solve one

Play Wordle Unlimited

Questions people ask

Is Worduel free?

Yes. No ads, no subscription and no sign-up. Open the page, press Play and the duel starts in seconds

Do I need an account?

No. Your rating and streak are kept on your device. Sign in with Apple when you want them to survive a new phone or a cleared browser

How long is a turn?

45 seconds. A thin bar at the top of the screen runs down while you think, coral on your turn and gray on your rival's

What happens if my time runs out?

The turn is skipped and your rival moves. Skip too many turns and the duel is lost, so type something even when you are not sure

Can I play Wordle 1v1 with a friend?

Yes. Pick With a friend above the Play button and open a room: you get a four-letter code and a link to send. Whoever you send it to lands on the same board, and the two of you keep the score of the series. It changes no rating, so nothing is at stake but the bragging

Can I play Wordle 1v1 in Spanish, German or French?

Yes, and in ten more languages. Pick the language right above the Play button and the words and the keyboard switch with it: Español with ñ, Deutsch with ä, ö and ü, Français on AZERTY, Polski with ą and ł, Русский and Українська on Cyrillic keyboards, Oʻzbekcha with oʻ and gʻ. Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Indonesian and Kazakh are there too

Is there an app?

On iPhone, yes: Worduel is on the App Store as Worduel: 1v1 Word Duel, with the same duels, streak and word cards

Is this the New York Times Wordle?

No. Worduel is an independent game built on the same idea and has no connection to The New York Times