Keyword
Find the six-letter word that fills the gap in six other words.
Every day: One new Keyword each day, the same for every player: a six-letter word that supplies the missing letter of six other words. The last seven days can be played again, and three perfect scores in a week unlock a bonus puzzle. New puzzle: Midnight.
Keyword is a daily word puzzle from The Washington Post. Six words each lack one letter, and those six letters, read across, spell the day's keyword. You guess letter by letter against a timer, aiming to get every letter right first time.
About Keyword
Keyword is one of the games The Washington Post makes for its own games section, next to its crossword, Mini Meta and Wridges. It is free to play in the browser, and signing in keeps your scores and unlocks the weekly bonus.
Each puzzle is a small grid. Six words run down the board, and each one is missing a single letter. The missing letters all sit on the same row, where they spell the keyword, a six-letter word that runs across. There are no clues: the only help is the letters you can already see and the fact that each letter you place has to work in two words at once.
You select a square and guess a letter. A letter that is right turns gold, a wrong one is marked and you try again, and the game counts how many guesses each square took. Six guesses for six letters is a perfect score. A timer runs as you play, and when you finish you see your average guesses, average time and number of perfect games.
The results screen also shows the last seven days, so a missed puzzle can still be played that week. Score three perfects in one week while signed in and a bonus Keyword unlocks. It suits players who like the quick crossing logic of a mini crossword but want a puzzle that takes a couple of minutes.
How to play Keyword
- Open Keyword to load today's grid of six words, each missing one letter.
- Select an empty square on the keyword row.
- Type a letter that completes the word running through that square.
- If the letter is wrong, it is marked and you try another; each extra guess counts against you.
- Fill all six squares to reveal the keyword and see your guesses and time.
- Use the recap to play any of the last seven days you missed.
Tips
- Start with the word that has the fewest possible completions, such as one that ends in an unusual pair of letters.
- Once two or three letters are in, read the keyword row as a word and guess the rest from it.
- Common letters like E, A, R, S and T fill many six-letter words, so try them where several fit.
- Sign in if you want the weekly bonus: perfects only count toward it when you are logged in.
Questions
Is Keyword free?
Yes. Keyword is free to play on The Washington Post's site. Signing in saves your stats and is needed to unlock the weekly bonus puzzle.
What counts as a perfect score?
Finding all six letters with six guesses, one per square, with no wrong letters.
Can I play an earlier Keyword?
Yes. The results screen lists the last seven days, and you can play any of them you have not finished.
What is the bonus Keyword?
An extra puzzle each week, unlocked by getting three perfect scores in that week while signed in.
Games like Keyword
Crossclimb
Another short daily word ladder where each answer leans on the ones next to it
The Mini Crossword
A few minutes of crossing letters, with clues instead of half-finished words
The Missing Letter
A daily crossword built around one missing letter, with a weekly word to collect
Wordle
A daily hidden word found in as few guesses as possible
Waffle
Daily crossing words where every letter has to fit two words at once
Crosswordle
Crossword-style crossings combined with Wordle-style letter guessing
Washington Post Daily Crossword
The Post's own daily crossword for a longer solve
Wridges
Spell words up a tower of letters and climb as high as you can before time runs out.