Chainword: How to Play the Tile Chain Game
Turn every tile into chained words — each word starts where the last one ended. Free, unlimited and no login.
What is Chainword?
Chainword is a tile-chain word game. You are handed a rack of letter tiles and one rule: every word you build must start with the last letter of the word before it. Use all of the tiles, in the right number of words, and the chain locks green.
There is no hidden answer to guess — the letters are all in front of you. It plays like a tile-laying game crossed with a word search, and it is free with unlimited levels.
Rules
- Easy levels deal 10 tiles (two words); harder levels deal 15 tiles (three words).
- Every word is exactly five letters and a real English word.
- Word 2 must begin with the last letter of word 1; word 3 must begin with the last letter of word 2.
- Each tile is used exactly once — the rack empties as you go.
- Words you cannot spell from the remaining tiles are rejected, and rejected tries add a strike.
How to play, step by step
- Sort the rack. Split the tiles into vowels and consonants; a five-letter word needs two or three vowels.
- Find the joining letters. The middle word has to end on the next word's first letter and start on the previous word's last letter, so it is the hardest link.
- Use rare tiles first. 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 the word you are surest about.
- Hint if you stall. It reveals a letter for one extra strike.
Free daily puzzle and unlimited levels
A new Chainword is posted daily at midnight US Eastern — identical for every player, ranked by strikes, with a streak that builds. After the daily you can keep climbing: Levels mode starts at two easy chained words and grows to three, with rarer words as you go up. It never runs out and it never asks for an account.
Stuck today? See Chainword hints for today, or play Chainword free.
Frequently asked questions
Is Chainword free? Yes — free, unlimited, no login required.
Can more than one chain be correct? Sometimes, yes. Any arrangement that uses every tile in chained real words is accepted.
Do the words have to be five letters? Yes. Five letters per word keeps the tile maths tight and the chain readable.
Where are today's answers? On the Chainword hints page.
More free word games: Clueword (reverse Wordle) · Chainword (tile chain) · Squareword (word square) · 5-Letter Words