Connections – Group 16 Words into 4

Sixteen words on a grid, four hidden groups of four. You have four mistakes — and some words deliberately fit more than one category. A new puzzle every day.

Frequently Asked Questions

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How do I play?

Select any four words and press Submit. If all four belong to the same hidden category, the group is revealed and removed from the grid. If not, you lose one of your four mistakes and the words return to the grid. Find all four groups before your mistakes run out.

What do the four colours mean?

Each group has a colour by difficulty: yellow is the most straightforward, then green, then blue, and purple is the most devious — often relying on wordplay or a very specific category.

What does 'One away' mean?

When three of your four selected words belong to the same group, you get a hint that you are one word away from a match. Use it to reconsider which of the four is the odd one out.

Are the puzzles translated into my language?

Like other English word games on the site, the word grid and category names are in English, while all interface text is localised. The mechanics need no language skills beyond reading the sixteen words.

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About this Game

Connections gives you sixteen words in a four-by-four grid. Hidden among them are four groups of four words that share a connection — dog commands, shades of blue, things with teeth. Select four words and submit: guess a group right and it locks in with its category name, but guess wrong and you burn one of your four mistakes.

The four groups are sorted by difficulty, from the straightforward yellow group to the deliberately tricky purple one. The real trap is overlap: CASTLE is both a castle part and a chess term, BRIDGE is both a card game and a structure. Words that seem to fit two groups are the whole point — elimination is your best tool. You can shuffle the grid and clear your selection at any time.

Connections rewards the same muscles as crosswords and trivia: vocabulary breadth, category fluency, and a willingness to abandon your first theory. Each puzzle teaches you how words hide multiple identities — and how to ask which reading of a word the puzzle-maker intended.

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