Is There a Multiplayer Wordle? How to Play Wordle With Friends, and the Best Alternatives (2026)

Wordle is built around one idea: everyone in the world gets the same five-letter word each day, and everyone solves it alone. That is exactly why it spread. You cannot spoil it for a friend by playing it together, because there is nothing to play together; you play, then you share a grid of colored squares that shows how it went without giving the word away.

So "multiplayer Wordle" is really three different wishes. Some people want to compare results with friends in one place. Some want to race friends on the same word at the same moment. And some want a game night, around a table, with Wordle as the game. Each has a different answer. One note first: we make one of the games below (KEYCAPS), and we will say plainly where the others fit better, because for some of those wishes they do.

What Wordle lets you do with friends today

The official game, in a browser or in The New York Times Games app, gives you one puzzle a day with six guesses. There is no room to invite a friend into and no live race. What it does give you is two ways to compare.

The share grid. After you finish, Wordle copies a grid of green, yellow and gray squares that you can paste anywhere. It shows how many guesses you took and how close each one was, without revealing a letter. This is the whole social life of Wordle for most people, and it works.

The NYT Games leaderboard. In spring 2025 The New York Times added a friends leaderboard to its Games app. You add friends and follow each other's daily results across Wordle and several other NYT games, and it keeps a history. It is a scoreboard, not a match: everyone still solves their own puzzle on their own time.

How to play Wordle with friends: three ways with no new app

1. The group chat league

Everyone solves the day's puzzle on their own and pastes the grid into one chat. Agree on scoring before the week starts, because the arguments are better that way: one point per guess, seven for a miss, lowest weekly total wins. Hard Mode, where every hint you uncover must be used in later guesses, makes a fair handicap for the player who always gets it in three. It costs nothing, and it is the format that made Wordle a habit.

2. Solve it together on a call

Share one screen on a video call, or sit around one phone, and work through a single puzzle as a team. Take turns choosing the next guess, and let the rest of the group argue for or against it before it goes in. This trades the race for the conversation, which is the right trade for a family across time zones or a classroom.

3. Paper Wordle, in person

This is the version that actually feels like multiplayer. One person is the host: they pick a five-letter word and write it down where nobody can see. Everyone else calls out five-letter guesses. For each guess, the host marks every letter green (right letter, right spot), yellow (in the word, wrong spot) or gray (not in the word) on a shared sheet. The first player to name the word wins the round, and the host role passes to the left. With more than four players, give each guesser one guess per turn so the quick ones do not run away with it.

That is the whole game, and it is how the official board game works too. Its limit is the same one: one person always sits out to host, and everyone is chasing a single word, so the fastest guesser wins most rounds and the rest of the table mostly watches.

The best multiplayer Wordle alternatives, by use case

Best for a live race with a group: KEYCAPS™

KEYCAPS is the word game we make, and it starts from the thing that keeps Wordle solo. Because Wordle hides one word, nobody can play it beside you without spoiling it. KEYCAPS hides nothing. Each keypair gives you two fixed letters, and any real word that fits between them scores: for S to M, STEAM, SLAM and SERUM all count. Two people can clear the same board without a single word in common, so telling a friend your answer spoils nothing, and a whole group can play the same board at the same moment.

It keeps the daily habit, too: five keypairs a day, the same five for everyone, with a streak and a score against everyone who played today. For playing with people there are five ways: pass one phone, open an online room for up to eight, send a code, a link or a QR and take turns whenever you each get a minute, get matched with the next player in the queue, or sit together and race the same live board over Bluetooth with no wifi and no signal. None of it needs an account, a sign-up or an email address, and a friend can take a seat from a browser.

What it costs: free is the whole game, every mode and every board, with ads that never appear on a gameboard. Fan-supported is $4.99 once and removes the ads; KEYCAPS+ is $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year and adds unlimited hints and two streak saves a month. Today's Daily is at keyca.ps in any browser, including Safari on iPhone, and the rest is on the KEYCAPS page. Not ideal if: what you love is the deduction itself, narrowing six guesses down to one word. KEYCAPS asks what your vocabulary can produce, not what the clues force, so for that pleasure pick one of the next two.

Best for comparing the real Wordle: the NYT Games leaderboard

If your group is happy with Wordle and only wants a tidier scoreboard than a scrolling group chat, the official leaderboard in the NYT Games app is the answer. Add your friends once and their daily results sit next to yours, alongside other NYT games. It needs each person to have the app and to sign in, and Wordle itself stays free to play. Not ideal if: you want to play at the same moment; it records results, it does not run a match.

Best for a head-to-head guess on one word: fan-made race sites

A handful of unofficial browser games recreate Wordle as a live race. WordleOff lets friends join one game by its code and guess the same word in real time; Wordle Duel, a fan-made game released in 2025, races you against a friend by shared link and fills an empty seat with a bot. These are the closest thing to "Wordle, but versus." They are not affiliated with The New York Times, they come and go, and quality varies, so never enter personal details or payment information on one. Not ideal if: you want something that will still be there next month, or a group bigger than a few people.

Best for a table with no screens: Wordle: The Party Game

Hasbro and NYT Games publish an official board game version for two to four players, ages 14 and up. Players take turns hosting, picking the secret word, while the others race to solve it. New copies have generally sold for about $13 to $20 in the US. It is paper Wordle with nicer pieces and a box. Not ideal if: you have more than four people, or your friends are in a group chat rather than at your table.

Best for two people over days: Crossplay or Words With Friends 2

If "play Wordle with a friend" really means "a word game with one friend that fits into spare minutes," a turn-based game suits it better than any race. Crossplay, the New York Times' first two-player game, launched in January 2026 as a Scrabble-style game with its own app and a post-game analysis of the moves you missed. Words With Friends 2 is the long-running free, ad-supported option. Turns wait for you, so a game can last a week. Not ideal if: you have more than two people; each game is one opponent at a time.

Quick comparison

Option	Best for	Players	Cost
KEYCAPS	A live race on one daily board	Up to 8, no account	Free; $4.99 once for no ads
NYT Games leaderboard	Comparing the real Wordle	You and added friends	Wordle is free
Fan-made race sites	Racing to guess one word	2 or a few	Free, unofficial
Wordle: The Party Game	A table, no screens	2 to 4	About $13 to $20
Crossplay / Words With Friends 2	Two people over days	2	Varies; WWF2 free with ads

Which one should you pick?

If your group already loves Wordle and only wants bragging rights, keep the group chat league or move it to the NYT leaderboard; nothing else will feel like the real thing. If the chat keeps saying "we should race," the question is how many of you there are. Two or three who want to guess the same word: a fan-made race site, while it lasts. A group of up to eight, scattered or on one couch, with no accounts to set up: KEYCAPS, starting with today's Daily at keyca.ps. Around a table with up to four: Wordle: The Party Game. For more group picks beyond Wordle-style games, see our guide to the best word game for a group, and for solo daily habits, the best free word games for iPhone.

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