Dowsle

About Dowsle

Dowsle borrows its name from dowsing rods, whose two prongs work together to find water. Here the two prongs are Meaning and Spelling. Each guess you type gets a meaning rank, a number of words away from the answer worked out from a word2vec model over about 100,000 words, and a spelling distance coloured red, yellow or green by how many letters it shares with the answer, in what order and at what length.

The pairing changes how you play compared with a pure meaning game. If the answer were word, a guess like letter would rank high on meaning while sword would sit close on spelling. A green spelling score can point you to anagram part of a guess, and a high meaning rank tells you which subject to stay in. The maker says it was inspired by Semantle's meaning clues and Wordle's letter clues, and was built to see what happens with both.

There is one numbered puzzle a day, the same for everyone, and the page says how old it is and how many hours it has left. Guesses are unlimited, and after a few you can take a meaning or spelling hint or give up. Solving without hints is counted separately. Once you have the word you can keep hunting for extras: the gem word nearest the answer on both measures, shamrocks that are green in both columns, sunflowers green in one and yellow in the other. Yesterday's News then shows the previous answer and how many players solved it without hints.

The answers are chosen by hand across different parts of speech and subjects, and the game has no ads or fees. It suits players who enjoy Semantle and Contexto but want a second kind of clue to work with.

How to play Dowsle

1. Type any word as your first guess and press Enter.
2. Read the Meaning rank, how many words away your guess is in sense, and the Spelling colour, how close its letters are.
3. Make new guesses that move closer on one or both measures.
4. Take a meaning or spelling hint if you are stuck, or keep going without one for a no-hints solve.
5. Find the secret word, then look for the gem word and other extras if you want to keep playing.

Tips

• Start broad to find a subject with a good meaning rank, then use spelling to pick between near synonyms.
• A green spelling score with a poor meaning rank suggests the right letters in a different word: try rearranging them.
• Compare why two guesses with overlapping letters get different spelling colours; it tells you which letters and lengths matter.
• Hints are offered after a few guesses; leave them alone if you want your solve to count as no-hints.

Questions