Sortdle
A water sort puzzle where the colours are letters: pour them between tubes until each colour spells a word.
Every day: One numbered water sort board with two hidden four-letter words, the same for everyone that date, plus a separate Hard Mode puzzle. New puzzle: Midnight in your own time zone (a countdown runs to the start of the next day).
Sortdle takes the tube-pouring water sort puzzle and turns the coloured layers into letters. Each day's numbered board hides two four-letter words, one per colour, and you pour letters between tubes until each colour sits alone in a tube in an order that spells a real word. Moves are unlimited but counted against the best possible solve.
About Sortdle
Sortdle is a free browser puzzle that mixes the water sort genre with word building. It belongs to AnaPuzzle, a small group of daily puzzle sites that also includes Daily Minesweeper, Number Island and Word Ladder. Puzzles are numbered from 1 January 2026 (puzzle #276 fell on 3 October 2026) and every date has its own board in the archive.
A board has a few tubes that each hold four letters, the length of the hidden words. A move is two taps: the tube to pour from and the tube to pour into. The whole run of same-coloured letters on top moves together, and you can only pour onto an empty tube or onto a letter of the same colour.
A tube is solved when it holds every letter of one colour and they read as a real word; any valid word counts, not only the intended one, and you only see what you spelled when the tube locks. There is no way to lose, since moves are unlimited and undo is free, but the game counts your moves and compares them with the optimal solution. Hard Mode adds a tougher daily board.
It suits anyone who knows water sort or ball sort games and wants a short daily puzzle that needs a little planning as well as spelling.
How to play Sortdle
- Open today's puzzle on the Sortdle home page.
- Tap a tube to pick up the run of same-coloured letters on top.
- Tap another tube to pour them in; it must be empty or have the same colour on top.
- Gather each colour's letters in one tube, in an order that spells a real four-letter word.
- Finish both words and compare your move count with the optimal solve.
Tips
- Scan the board before moving: one tube is often nearly finished.
- Keep an empty tube free as a parking space for letters in the way.
- Think about letter order before the last pour, since the tube only locks when it spells a word.
Questions
Is everyone given the same puzzle?
Yes. Puzzles are numbered and dated, and the archive lets you replay any earlier date.
Can I lose?
No. Moves are unlimited and you can undo freely, but your move count is compared with the optimal solution.
Is there a harder version?
Yes. Hard Mode has its own daily puzzle and archive.
Does it cost anything?
No. It is free in the browser and needs no account.
Games like Sortdle
Ball Sort (Puzzleship)
The classic tube-pouring sort puzzle Sortdle is based on
Bean Sort
A daily tube sort with one colour per tube
Word Ladder (wordladder.com)
A daily word puzzle from the same AnaPuzzle group
Letter Boxed
A daily word puzzle that rewards planning over guessing
Number Island
Another daily logic board from the same group of sites
Cryptogram (English, Puzzlega.me)
Crack a numbered cipher to reveal the day's hidden quotation, the same puzzle for every player.
Cryptogram / 暗号解読 (Puzzlega.me)
Crack a Japanese sentence where each number hides one kana, one puzzle a day.
SPELT
Fill the gaps in five words so that every tile in the pool gets used.