Tag: contexto

Language is beautiful. I once saw a “would you rather” game between being a master at all the instruments or being proficient at all spoken and written languages (yes I know music can be considered a language but bare with me); I’m picking being proficient at all the spoken and written languages 99% of the time. There’s a miniscule part of me that still wants to be in the greatest midwest emo band however. Anyways, language brings us together, and I’m pretty sure since the beginning of written language, word games have always existed.

As we navigate the first quarter of 2026, the landscape of word games has shifted. We’ve moved on from crosswords in the Sunday paper and whatever they played since the dawn of written language into an era of digital social puzzles. Your choice of word game says a lot about your personality: are you a tongue tyke, lingo king, or even God’s silver tongue personified?

To settle the score, I’ve compiled the definitive Word Games Tier List. This ranking is based on mechanical depth, user experience, and that elusive “just one more round” factor just like Civilization. Like all tier lists, we’ll start from the bottom and make our way to the vocab champs in the S-Tier. 

F-Tier: The New York Times (0)

Honestly every single word game that I have to pay for. I’m looking at you, New York Times. Word games are a human right. I’m on the phone with my senator at this moment to get the right to play all word games free of charge added as the 28th amendment. If you subscribed to the New York Times to play word games, then you are a language loser.

Contexto

It’s honestly a cool concept in theory. You enter a word and the “algorithm” spits out how close you are to the actual word. I say cool in concept because the website uses AI to let you know how close you are. When I played, the hidden word was OPAL. So please tell me how RECTANGLE is closer than SPHERE. I gave up. This game does not work or maybe I’m just too smooth brained?

D-Tier: Tutorial Island (1)

You leave ‘em for better word games after second grade.

Classic Word Search

Let’s be honest: once you’ve found “WATER” diagonally and backwards, you’ve reached master prestige and seen it all. Word searches were passed out when teachers had nothing to do. Looking back, they may have been recovering from a hangover and needed us to shut up.

Hangman

Another classic we’ve all seen in the classroom. It’s fun in the first grade when everyone was yelling their answer after only two letters on the board.

Anagrams

My first introduction to Anagrams was in the second grade and we had to make words out of THANKSGIVING. My seven year old mind did not comprehend the rules and was only able to make out THANKS and GIVING. Anagrams should honestly be 8+ due to the difficulty. Ultimately, it’s lowkey a demake of Scrabble. Pressing the shuffle button on digital versions of anagrams can sometimes feel like gambling, so that’s cool I guess? 

C-Tier: Filthy Casuals (2)

Manufactured for mass pleasure just like KPOP.

Wordle

You gotta be kidding me man. It’s a hangman reskin. One five letter word. This provides no sustenance to learning minds. It’s an insult to vocabulary. It’s more of a guessing game than a word game. The game has already been optimized; it might not even be a word, might even be a math game. Now I’ll admit there is a “just one more round” factor, but The New York Times hides it behind a paywall. Wordle would’ve been B-Tier if it weren’t for capitalistic greed. I am firm but fair, so Wordle gets to be at C-Tier. This game STANK.

B-Tier: Good but Greedy (3)

When the game is good but some corporation has to get their bread.

Strands

It’s honestly the next step in the evolution of classic word search. In one of my earlier blogs I said crosswords were Word Search 2. I take that back, Strands is the true successor. Strands provides players with a measly hint and they have to find them in a classic word search grid. The twist is you can move adjacently, just like Minesweeper! It would’ve been placed higher, but New York Times’ greed sickens me. At least I got to play a game for free lol

Scrabble and Words with Friends

Scrabble and Words with Friends built the foundations of the mobile word game industry. Zynga had us by the  _ALLS (quick hangman puzzle) on Facebook. These games casinofied classic Scrabble and connected us all. I’m just done with the aggressive ad placements and constant prompts to buy coins.

A-Tier: Genius Adjacent (4)

For when you have 15 minutes to kill and point to prove or taking stuck on the “throne”

Crosswords

Now this is the classic. I’ll be the first to admit, it didn’t transition well to the digital age, but that’s okay. It’s stood the test of time. We all thought we were done with word games in the second grade, but then they reappeared in our Spanish 1 class. This game is perfect for vocabulary building. Besides Sunday newspapers and clases de español, you can also find them in dollar stores. I’m sure you’ll be playing crosswords again at an old folks home.

Boggle and Boxlingual

Everybody says they got hooked on word games through Words with Friends and Wordle. Nah, Boggle is the game that got me hooked. It’s like Minesweeper but for words. You clear the field to find bombs (words). It’s extremely competitive among individuals with a hyperfixation of words. Unfortunately Boggle is a physical board game. Fortunately for you, Boxlingual provides users with a faithful recreation of Super Big Boggle with an altered scoring system. The best thing is you can play an unlimited amount of times. Check it out (now with dark mode)!

S-Tier: God Among Men (5)

The next generation of word games.

Boxlingual: Themed

Themelingual is the definitive word game that defined 2026. It combines the best of learning, Boggle, and crosswords. A 6×6 grid with hints like cross words and references to pop culture. What more can you ask for? Did you know challenges are released weekly? Check it out!

Where do you stand on the lingo ladder?

Pick your favorite three word games from the list and add them up to see where you stand. The points you should add are next to the tier.

• <4 : Language Loser – Smooth brained corrupted by greed
• 4-5: Tongue Tyke – You are still in the second grade
• 6-7: Coinage Connoisseur – Stuck in the pass, but your taste does not disappoint
• 8-9: Lingo King – In it with current trends, you’re gucci
• >9: God’s Silver Tongue Personified – Oracle of word games

Final Verdict

If you are looking to start your word game journey or scored less than three, start in the C-Tier with Wordle. There’s a reason millions play and why the creator got bought out by The New York Times. It’s simple and digestible, the perfect linguistic appetizer. If you find yourself breezing through the daily puzzles and using an algorithm to solve the daily puzzle, don’t be afraid to dip your toes into games farther up the tier list like Boxlingual or Strands.