If you are a word aficionado, you’re spoiled for choice of word game apps. Word games come in numerous shapes, from classic puzzles and crosswords to word searches and anagrams. But the best word game apps offer many unique combinations of the above.
Word games are not only fun to play, but they are also an easy way to exercise your brain. Whether you choose relaxed, untimed, or gripping timed word games, playing will improve your concentration, vocabulary, and problem-solving skills while boosting your creativity and learning something new.
Top 20 Word Games for Android and iPhone
We have narrowed down the best word game apps for you to try, challenging and fun at the same time. All the games listed below are free, with the possibility of in-store purchases.
1. Wordscapes
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
Wordscapes is one of the best word puzzle apps that combine a crossword game with a word search. It’s easy to play—swipe letters that appear on the bottom of the screen in the correct order, and form words to fill the crossword puzzle. This is a quick game: it takes less than a few minutes to complete each round.
Like all the best word games, Wordscapes might seem easy to start with, but it quickly gets more difficult as you progress. It includes over 5,000 puzzles and several different playing modes. The game comes with pretty colorful backgrounds and a user-friendly interface.
2. Word Search Pro
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
Word Search Pro is a simple and engaging word puzzle app. You’ll keep your brain active while searching for the words given by the app, placed in different directions across the screen. As you swipe through the letters, the words get highlighted in bright colors.
Word Search Pro comes with several smart features. The user-friendly interface, customizable font sizes, various themes, and difficulty levels are only some of them. The app offers daily challenges to keep you entertained, and a night mode setting.
3. Word Connect
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
Word Connect is among the best word search apps, with a classic Scrabble-like interface. The game is very simple to play. Just swipe the letters to create words, while collecting coins. Word Connect isn’t one of the timed word games—the app doesn’t set any time limits. Relax and play at your own pace and ask for clues for solving the puzzles.
The game has a whopping 6,700 levels, so there is no reason not to train your brain every day while improving your language skills. Note that this is an adult word game, for ages 12 and above.
4. WordBrain
Devices: iOS | Android
Languages: 15 languages
WordBrain is among the smartest and best word game apps out there. Even though it’s originally meant for kids, it’s a great challenge for everyone. To play, locate the word from letters placed in the grid. Swipe the word to get into the next level—there are more than 1,200 levels per language. Although the game might appear simple in the beginning, it quickly gets more demanding as you progress through the levels.
5. Wordfeud
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: 10 languages including English, French, and Spanish
Wordfeud is a multiplayer word puzzle app. Create and place words on the 15×15 tile board. Earn additional points when you place letters on one of the high-scoring tiles: Double Letter, Double Word, Triple Letter, or Triple Word.
You can either choose an opponent yourself or get assigned one. Push notifications will inform you of the opponent’s latest move, and the app offers a chat function too. With Wordfeud you won’t get easily bored—it lets you participate in as many as 30 simultaneous games.
6. Scrabble
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
An all-time favorite, Scrabble is a true classic and one of the best word game apps on the market. You can choose to play against the computer, or find a random opponent by connecting on Facebook. Like Wordfeud, the Scrabble app lets you play multiple games at once. You can also talk to your opponents during the game, thanks to the enhanced chat and notification features. The Speed Play function allows for two or five-minute turns with your opponent for a fast-paced game.
In addition, the Scrabble word puzzle app offers the exclusive “teacher” feature, which helps you enhance your word-formation skills. You can see what your best word could have been after every turn and improve your game in the next round.
Finally, did you know that there are Word Finder tools for Scrabble available online? Check out our personal favorite, Scrabble Word Finder by Word Count Tool!
7. Word Crush: Hidden Words
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
One of the best word games on iPhone and Android, Words Crush is as simple as it’s entertaining. Just swipe through the letters in any direction—even backward—to crush the word. The size of the word is indicated below the grid. And if you can’t guess the word, you have several options to make the game easier: “search,” “hint,” or “shuffle.” With more than 3,000 levels, Word Crush: Hidden Words guarantees hours of entertainment.
8. Words With Friends 2
Devices: iOS | Android
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Words With Friends (2) is a highly popular word scramble app that plays pretty much like Scrabble: you get a choice of letters and place them on a board. You can easily expand your vocabulary and improve your spelling skills as you search for the highest scoring word.
You can choose to play either against fictional characters in solo challenges, which are updated with new word games, themes and opponents twice a month, or in multiplayer mode. The game has something for everyone: it’s perfect for newbies and experienced wordies alike.
9. Crosswords With Friends
Device: iOS
Language: English
With no doubt, Crosswords With Friends is one of the best iPhone word games. The daily crosswords are created by some of the world’s most published crossword writers. You can solve new puzzles daily, and a specific theme is available on different days of the week. There is Movie Monday, TV Tuesday, Wayback Wednesday, Top 40 Thursday, Sports Fan Friday, Smartypants Saturday, and Sunday Funday. The puzzles are relevant to entertainment, pop culture, and sports news and you’re guaranteed to learn something new each time you play.
Don’t miss completing weekly challenges—test yourself with new goals each week to earn rewards and collect badges. If you are stuck on a word, you can use hints to move faster. You can also challenge your friends and see who’ll be the first to solve the daily puzzle.
10. New York Times Crossword
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
The New York Times Crossword word puzzle app offers the same famous puzzle that’s printed daily in The New York Times newspaper. You can either play the daily puzzle or get access to mini-puzzles and puzzle packs. For even more challenges, you can access over 20 years of past puzzles. Earlier this year, this challenging word game app introduced “spelling bee,” a daily word game that asks you to spell words from a collection of letters organized in a hive-like form.
11. Four Letters
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: 20 languages
As its name says, the Four Letters word game challenges you to make words from just four letters. Four Letters is a timed word game, so make sure to find the solution as quickly as possible. It starts simple but quickly progresses to more and more complicated puzzles. Since questions can have multiple answers, you can get as creative as you like. With its pretty, intuitive interface and thousands of word combinations on offer, this is the perfect word game on the go.
12. Bonza Word Puzzle
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
Bonza is one of the most creative word game apps. It combines word search, jigsaw, and trivia, offering a unique type of puzzle. You are provided with fragments of a crossword puzzle and asked to fit them back together. Bonza provides clues to solve the crossword at a faster pace. In addition, the game has a feature that allows you to create your own puzzles. The starter pack and two puzzle packs are free, but you can unlock more with the coins you earn in the game. Alternatively, you can buy them through in-app purchases. Note that this is an adult word game, for ages 12 and above.
13. TypeShift
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
TypeShift is a modern word puzzle, and a unique blend of anagrams, word searches, and crosswords. You get rows of letters and move them around until you form a word. In the beginning, the game is simple, but it gets increasingly difficult as you progress. TypeShift also features a free daily challenge: the easiest one appears on Monday, and progressively more challenging puzzles build throughout the week.
14. Wheel of Fortune
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
Based on the TV game show with the same name, Wheel of Fortune lets you take your turn at the wheel and guess the show’s puzzles. This fun word game, with puzzles written by the show’s producers, is perfect to play with friends and family. The perks include connecting with new friends, chat function, and creating your own puzzles.
15. Letterpress
Devices: iOS | Android
Languages: English, Spanish
Many word puzzle lovers will agree that Letterpress is one of the very best word game apps today. It’s a challenging strategy word game with an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. You can choose to play against your friends or the computer, each taking turns to spell words and capture the board.
16. A Word Game
Devices: iOS
Languages: English, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
A Word Game is definitely among the best word games for iPhone. The aim is to find hidden words relevant to the subject given in the puzzle. Simply swipe your finger across the letters to spell the hidden words. A Word Game consists of more than 500 puzzles and thousands of hidden words, getting more and more complex as you progress.
17. Word Cookies
Devices: iOS | Android
Language: English
Word Cookies is a cross between different aspects of word games, complete with a user-friendly interface. Swipe the alphabet cookies on the baking pan to form a word, then fill up the cookie jar with any extra words to earn coins. With Word Cookies you’ll easily get addicted to testing your spelling and vocabulary skills.
18. Word Shaker
Devices: iOS | Android
Languages: English, Dutch, French
Word Shaker is a word search game with a twist: words don’t have to appear in a straight line. You earn points by finding words in a grid—the longer the words, the more points you earn. And if you get stuck, simply shake the phone to scramble the letters and start again.
You can compete with friends or opponents from around the world. Choose between a relaxing untimed option or the fast-paced timed word game with the timer set to anywhere from 1 to 30 minutes. Word Shaker comes with a text-to-speech option, which pronounces the words for you, and the possibility to review the words you missed.
19. Word Heaps
Device: Android
Language: English
Word Heaps is another first-rate challenging word game app for all word fans. With more than 2,000 levels, this is a game for everyone. To play, you receive a clue for the puzzle, such as “rainbow color” or “ordinal numbers,” for example. Swipe the letters to form hidden words belonging to the given topic, and get a reward for every extra word you find.
20. Ruzzle
Devices: iOS | Android
Languages: 14 languages
Currently on App Store’s top ten word-game list in 148 countries, Ruzzle is one of the best word game apps out there. This hugely popular game is as fast-paced as it is addictive. Challenge your friends or random opponents to find as many words as you can from a given set of letters, swiping over them to form the words. And you need to be fast—the timer in this game is set to just two minutes.
