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How to Play Strands: Complete Rules Guide for Beginners

July 9, 2026 · Updated daily · By An You

Strands is a daily word search puzzle from The New York Times family of games. First launched in 2024, it quickly became one of the most popular word games alongside Wordle and Connections. At StrandsGame.online, you can play unlimited Strands puzzles for free.

What is Strands?

Strands presents you with a 6 by 8 grid of 48 letters. Each puzzle has a theme, and your goal is to find all the hidden words related to that theme. Every letter in the grid is used exactly once across all the words you need to find.

Basic Rules

Theme Words vs Spangram

Each puzzle has two types of words to find:

Theme Words (green): Words directly related to the theme. There are typically 5 to 8 theme words per puzzle.

The Spangram (gold): A special word that spans from one edge of the grid to the opposite edge. It summarizes the entire theme and is the key to solving the puzzle. There is exactly one Spangram per puzzle.

How to Select Words

On desktop: Click and drag your mouse across adjacent letters.

On mobile: Touch and swipe across the letters.

Once you've selected a word (minimum 4 letters), click Submit. If it's a theme word, it turns green. If it's the Spangram, it turns gold. If it's neither, nothing happens — just try again.

How Hints Work

Stuck? You can earn hints:

  1. Find any 3 non-theme words (4+ letters each)
  2. Each set of 3 earns you 1 hint
  3. Click the Hint button to reveal the first letter of a random unfound word

Hints reset each puzzle, so use them freely!

Daily vs Unlimited Mode

Daily mode: A new puzzle every day. All players get the same puzzle — share your results with friends!

Unlimited mode: Play as many puzzles as you want. Randomly selected from a growing library. Perfect for practice.

Winning the Game

You win when all theme words and the Spangram have been found. Every letter in the grid will be used exactly once. Share your result emoji grid on social media to challenge your friends!

Play Strands Now