Chainword is a tile-chain puzzle. You are given a rack of letters and must arrange all of them into two or three five-letter words, where every word starts with the last letter of the word before it.

How do you win Chainword?

Use every tile exactly once, in the right number of words, with each word starting on the previous word's last letter. Wrong words, wrong starting letters and letters you do not have are all rejected.

Is Chainword free, and is there a daily puzzle?

Yes. Chainword is free with no login. One puzzle is posted daily at midnight US Eastern for everyone, plus an endless ladder of levels that gets harder as you climb.

Can more than one answer be right?

Sometimes. Any arrangement that uses every tile in chained real words counts as solved, so a different valid chain is accepted and scored the same.

Chainword — Free Tile Chain Word Puzzle

Chainword: a word-chain puzzle you build with your hands

Chainword hands you a rack of letter tiles and one rule: every word you make has to start with the last letter of the word before it. Use all of the tiles, in the right number of words, and the grid locks green. There is no hidden answer to guess — you are arranging real letters that you can see, which makes it feel closer to a tile-laying game than to a guessing game.

The rules in one breath

You get 10 tiles (two words) or 15 tiles (three words).
Every word is five letters and a real English word.
Word 2 must start on the last letter of word 1; word 3 starts on the last letter of word 2.
Each tile is used exactly once — the rack empties as you go.
Wrong words, wrong starting letters and letters you no longer hold are rejected and add a strike.

How to solve a Chainword

Look at the middle letter first. Whichever word sits in the middle has to both end on the next word's first letter and start on the previous word's last letter.
Sort the rack mentally into vowels and consonants. Five-letter words need two or three vowels; that groups the tiles fast.
Work the rare tiles. If a Q, Z, X or J is in the rack, the word holding it is usually forced.
Commit one word at a time. You can undo, so lock in the word you are most sure of and let the remaining rack narrow the rest.
Use the hint if you stall. It reveals a letter for one extra strike.

Daily puzzle, endless levels

A new Chainword is posted every day at midnight US Eastern — identical for everyone, with a streak and a daily leaderboard ranked by strikes. When you finish it, switch to Levels for an endless ladder: level 1 starts at two easy words and the chain gets longer and the words get rarer as you climb. Progress saves in your browser, so you can leave and come back to the same level.

Rules, strategy and today's answer

Read the full Chainword rules and strategy, or jump straight to today's Chainword hints and answer.

More free word games

Try Clueword, 5-Letter Word Game, Category Groups, Word Path or Wordscapes.