How to Play Letter Boxed: Rules, Examples and Tips 2026
Here is how to play Letter Boxed in one line. Spell words with the 12 letters around a square, switch sides on every letter, and start each new word with the last letter of the one before. You win when every letter is used. Fewer words is a better score.
How to Play Letter Boxed in 5 Steps
- Read the board. Twelve letters sit around a square, three on each side.
- Spell a word. Tap letters to make a word of three letters or more. Each letter must come from a different side than the one before it.
- Press Enter. The word joins your chain. Its last letter becomes the first letter of your next word.
- Keep chaining. Add words until all 12 letters have been used at least once.
- Beat par. The game shows a word target called par. Try to finish at par or below it.
That is the whole game. The rest of this guide shows each rule in action, walks through a full solve and covers the words the game accepts.
What Is Letter Boxed?
Letter Boxed is a daily word puzzle from The New York Times. Sam Ezersky, the NYT puzzle editor who also runs Spelling Bee, is credited as its creator. The Times released it in 2019 after a soft launch in 2018. It was the third game in the NYT puzzle lineup, after the Crossword and Spelling Bee.
A new board appears every day at 3 a.m. Eastern Time. You can play it in the NYT Games app or on the NYT website. Since August 2025, the official game needs an NYT Games, All Access or Home Delivery subscription. You can also play free practice boards on our Letter Boxed Unlimited page.
Letter Boxed meaning: what the name tells you
The name describes the board. Your letters are boxed in around the edges of a square, and every word has to bounce between those edges. Do not mix it up with Letterboxd, the film review app. The two share a sound, not a purpose.
How it differs from Wordle and Spelling Bee
Wordle asks you to guess one hidden word in six tries. Spelling Bee asks you to find as many words as you can from seven letters. Letter Boxed asks you to plan. Each word you pick decides where the next one must begin, so it plays like a word chain puzzle with a map.
Letter Boxed Rules
Learning how to play Letter Boxed starts with six short rules. Each one below comes with an example from the sample board used later in this guide.
| Side | Letters |
| Top | U, B, I |
| Right | F, A, C |
| Bottom | M, T, O |
| Left | W, L, H |
Rule 1: Words need three letters or more
Two letter words like AT or OH never count. HAT works. HA does not.
Rule 2: Switch sides on every letter
This is the same side rule, and it shapes the whole game. Two letters in a row cannot come from the same side. MOB fails on this board because M and O both sit on the bottom. LOFT works: L (left), O (bottom), F (right), T (bottom).
Notice that LOFT visits the bottom twice. That is fine. You can come back to a side, just not on the very next letter.
Rule 3: Chain your words
Each new word must start with the last letter of the word before it. If your first word is WATCH, your next word must start with H. The NYT help page shows the same idea with HERE, then EVERY, then YEAR.
Rule 4: Use all 12 letters
You finish only when every letter on the board has been used at least once. Used letters change color on the board, so you can see what is left.
Rule 5: Reuse letters as often as you like
Nothing stops you from using a letter twice, in one word or across many. The bridge letter always appears twice, once at the end of a word and again at the start of the next.
Rule 6: Fewer words is better
There are no points and no timer. Your result is the number of words in your chain. The game sets a par, usually four to six words, as the target to match or beat.
Letter Boxed Explained Through One Full Game
The best way to see how to play Letter Boxed is on a real board. Let’s solve the sample board twice, first the way most beginners do and then the way experts do.
The beginner path: four words
| Word | Path by side | New letters used | Letters done |
| FLAW | Right, Left, Right, Left | F, L, A, W | 4 of 12 |
| WATCH | Left, Right, Bottom, Right, Left | T, C, H | 7 of 12 |
| HAUL | Left, Right, Top, Left | U | 8 of 12 |
| LIMBO | Left, Top, Bottom, Top, Bottom | I, M, B, O | 12 of 12 |
Four words solves it. Look at HAUL, though. It added just one new letter. Short words that pick up only one or two fresh letters are what push a score above par.
The expert path: two words
An expert looks for one long word first. WATCHFUL uses eight different letters and ends on L. LIMBO then starts with L and picks up the last four: I, M, B and O.
WATCHFUL, then LIMBO. Two words, all 12 letters. Same board, half the words. The only difference is planning the ending letter before typing the first one.
What counts as a good score?
| Words used | What it means |
| 2 | The best result. NYT editors post a two word answer to each puzzle the next day. |
| 3 | A sharp, well planned solve |
| At par | A solid day |
| Above par | Normal while you learn |
On the NYT site, open the Yesterday option to see the editors’ two word answer for the previous board. Study it. It is the quickest way to learn how strong solvers think.
Which Letter Boxed Words Count?
NYT editors curate the Letter Boxed word list by hand. The NYT help center says the game may not include every word found in a dictionary. So a real English word can still get rejected.
| Usually accepted | Never accepted |
| Everyday nouns and verbs | Proper nouns like names, cities and brands |
| Adjectives | Hyphenated words |
| Common plurals and verb forms | Profanity and offensive terms |
| Some rare words, such as azurite | Words shorter than three letters |
If the game rejects a word, it is either missing from the curated list or it breaks the side rule. Check the side rule first. It is the more common cause.
Beginner Mistakes to Avoid
Most new players make the same four mistakes while they learn how to play Letter Boxed. Each one has a simple fix.
- Short words only. Three and four letter words add few new letters, which inflates your count. Aim for five letters or more.
- Ignoring the last letter. Ending on Q, X or Z can leave you stuck. Ask what word could start with that letter before you press Enter.
- Breaking the side rule. A word looks fine, then the game refuses it. Trace each letter’s side in your head first.
- Patching instead of restarting. Piling small words onto a weak chain rarely helps. Clear your words and try a new opener.
Your First Strategies
Once you know how to play Letter Boxed, three habits will cut your word count fastest.
- Place hard letters early. Find J, Q, X, Z, V and K before anything else. Put them in the middle of a word while the board is still open.
- Pick strong ending letters. S, T, D, R and E start thousands of English words. They make the best bridge letters.
- Hunt one long word. A seven or eight letter word like WATCHFUL clears most of the board. Then you only need one short word to finish.
Want more boards to practice on? Play free on our Letter Boxed Unlimited page. If you get stuck, our Letter Boxed solver shows every chain you missed.
