What is Oddword?
Oddword is a daily word game where the rarest words win. Every day everyone in the world gets the same eight letters, and your goal is to make words of four letters or more. You have ten words to spend, and the fewer players who find a word, the more it scores. It rewards a broad and unusual vocabulary rather than the most obvious answers.
How to play Oddword
- Open oddword.io to see the day's eight letters.
- Make words of four letters or more from those letters.
- Spend up to ten words per day, choosing each one carefully.
- Submit each word to earn points based on how rare it is.
- Check your score against other players on the daily board.
The scoring system
The fewer players who find a given word, the more that word scores. Common words that everyone finds earn little, while rare words that few players discover earn the most. This means the best strategy is to hunt for unusual but valid words rather than the first answer that comes to mind. One tile is brass, and any word that uses it gets a boost to its score. A word that uses all eight letters also earns a bonus, so building a full-letter word is especially rewarding when you can manage it.
The brass tile
One of the eight letters is brass instead of the usual tile. Any word that uses that brass letter receives a score boost, so it is worth trying to include that letter in your words when possible. Because the brass tile changes value depending on where it sits, keeping it in mind while you build words can meaningfully raise your total for the day. The boost applies on top of whatever rarity score the word would otherwise earn, so pairing the brass letter with an uncommon word gives you the best of both worlds.
How rarity works
Oddword scores words by how few players find them. A word that almost everyone enters is worth very little, because it shows no originality. A word that only a handful of players discover is worth much more, because it rewards a deeper vocabulary. The daily board ranks all players by their total, so the winner is not necessarily the fastest player but the one who finds the rarest valid words. This makes Oddword a game of knowledge and word choice rather than speed, and it encourages you to think past the obvious answers.
Modes and extras
- Daily game: One set of eight letters per day, the same for everyone around the world.
- Endless mode: Keep playing beyond the daily puzzle with an endless stream of letter sets.
- Archive: Browse past puzzles and see how you did on earlier days.
- Duels: Challenge friends directly to head-to-head word battles.
- Free and private: Oddword is free, with no ads and no tracking, and you can play without an account.
Tips for a better score
Look for uncommon words that use the brass tile, since the boost applies on top of the rarity scoring. Try to build at least one word that uses all eight letters, because the full-word bonus can add a large amount to your total. Avoid wasting your ten words on very common answers that almost everyone will find, and save some words for rarer combinations. If you are unsure a word is valid, consider the risk, because each of your ten words is a limited resource. Spend a little time scanning the letters for less obvious combinations, such as prefixes and suffixes, before you settle on a word, since the extra effort often uncovers a rarer answer.
Common questions
Do I need an account?
No. Oddword can be played without an account, and it has no ads and no tracking.
How many words can I enter?
You have ten words to spend each day.
What is the brass tile?
One tile is brass and boosts the score of any word that uses it.
How do I get a bonus?
A word that uses all eight letters scores a bonus.
Is there more than the daily puzzle?
Yes. There is an Endless mode, an archive of past puzzles, and duels against friends.