Words Ago

What is Words Ago?

Words Ago is a daily word puzzle that swaps definitions and letter patterns for a different kind of clue: the word's own history. Each day, the game selects an English word and plots how often it appeared in books from 1820 to 2019 as a blue curve. Players have six guesses to identify the word, and each guess draws its own curve on the same chart, making it possible to compare eras and see whether a guess is too early, too late, or in the right range.

Editor takes

Six guesses to match a two-century curve is a tight, fair puzzle—but hard mode should be the default for anyone serious.

A word's whole life drawn in ink before you've even named it—that's a clue worth savouring.

This is like Shazam for forgotten words—you hear the era, then chase the hook until the title clicks.

How to play Words Ago

Each guess returns a percentage match, an arrow pointing to the relevant era, and letter coloring in the style of Wordle to indicate correct letters and positions. Four optional hints are available — a moment in history, the next letter, a related word, or the definition — and a hard mode disables hints while requiring players to reuse every letter they've found.

Where to play

Play Words Agowordsago.com · free, new puzzle daily

Play here