Contexto

About Contexto

Contexto is a daily word game in the same family as Semantle, but with simpler feedback. It first appeared in 2022 in Portuguese and English and is published by the Brazilian studio Daydash Games, on the web at contexto.me and in official apps for iPhone and Android.

Before each puzzle, a program reads a large amount of text and sorts every word in its list by how often it shows up in the same kinds of sentences as the secret word. When you type a guess, you see where it falls in that ranking. The answer is number 1; a guess ranked 36 is very close, and one ranked 3,000 is far off. Each guess is drawn as a bar, green for close, yellow for warmer and red for far away, so the list of your attempts reads like a map.

The ranking is what sets Contexto apart from Semantle. A plain position is easier to read than a similarity score, so it feels less like decoding numbers and more like a game of hot and cold. You have unlimited guesses. If you stall, the hint button gives you a word closer than your best so far; in settings you can choose whether hints jump to half of your best position, move one place better, or land at random. You can also give up to see the answer and the closest words, and play earlier games from the previous games list.

Contexto suits anyone who likes word association and wants a puzzle that can be finished in a few minutes on a good day. Players who enjoy it often move on to Semantle for something harder.

How to play Contexto

1. Type a single word and press Enter.
2. See its position: the secret word is number 1, and lower numbers mean closer in meaning.
3. Look at the colour of the bar: green is close, yellow is warmer, red is far.
4. Use your best-ranked words to choose new guesses on the same theme.
5. Keep going until you find number 1, or use a hint or give up if you are stuck.

Screenshots

Tips

• Start broad with common words from different areas, such as a place, an animal, a feeling and an object.
• Think about where the secret word is used, not just what it means; words that turn up in the same sentences rank close.
• When you reach the green range, try nearby forms of your best word: plural, verb form, or a more specific kind of the same thing.
• Set hints to Medium in settings if you want a gentle nudge rather than a big jump.
• Sort your list by similarity so your best guesses stay at the top.

Questions