What is Slideword?
Slideword is a word puzzle game built on a 5×5 grid of scrambled letters that wraps around itself. Five hidden words lie within the grid, each corresponding to a definition shown on the left. Instead of typing letters, you slide entire rows and columns using arrows at the edges. When a letter exits one side, it reappears on the opposite side, turning letter placement into a routing problem.
How to play Slideword
- Read the five numbered definitions in the left column before making a move.
- Click an arrow at the edge of the grid to shift the corresponding row or column by one space.
- Rows and columns wrap around. When a row moves right, its last letter reappears on the left, so no letter leaves the board.
- Click the padlock icon beside a completed row to freeze it.
- Reconstruct all five words. The Give up button ends the game early, and the HINTS counter stays visible above the grid.
Each move that fixes one row disturbs another. Because the grid wraps, you think in trajectories rather than individual letters. Rows only rotate their own letters without reordering them, while columns act as elevators that swap letters between rows. The shortest path to position a letter is often the opposite direction, since no letter is more than two shifts from its target on any row or column.
Reading the feedback
The grid uses no color coding. Its tiles stay neutral, so the words themselves determine whether a row or column is correct. Colored arrows mark the active row or column and help prevent accidental shifts. Each definition has its word hidden behind a bar that you can reveal. The HINTS counter remains above the board, and the pause button in the header stops the stopwatch when you step away.
Modes
The daily game offers one grid per day. A date selector in the header lets you switch to another day.
Easy mode lets you lock completed rows early. The page also mentions a hard mode.
Tips for solving
In Easy mode, lock a row once it forms a correct word. This freezes the row and reduces the number of letters you need to move.
Columns swap letters between rows, while rows rotate in place. Use columns to move letters vertically and rows to line them up horizontally.
Check both directions around the grid. Because it wraps, a letter four spaces to the right is only one space to the left. Choose the shorter route.
Read all five definitions before moving an arrow. They provide free information and help you sort the scrambled grid.
Common questions
Do you need an account to play Slideword?
No. You can start the daily game without signing in.
What does the padlock beside each row do?
It freezes the row so you cannot change it. The game’s notes recommend using it early in Easy mode.