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Letter Boxed Solver

Type the 12 unique letters shown on your NYT Letter Boxed puzzle (in any order) and see every valid English word you can build from them. The solver returns long words first — most Letter Boxed solutions revolve around one or two long words that use most of the letters.

You still need to check the side-switching rule (no two consecutive letters from the same side), and to chain words so each new word starts on the last letter of the previous one, but this eliminates 99% of the guessing.

Type all 12 unique letters (no duplicates). Sort them any way you like.

Options — narrow results
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How Letter Boxed works

The New York Times' Letter Boxed presents 12 letters on the four sides of a square — three letters per side. To play, you spell a word by moving from letter to letter, never using two consecutive letters from the same side. Your next word must start on the letter your previous word ended with. The goal is to use every one of the 12 letters in the shortest chain of valid words.

Each daily puzzle has a target word count — usually 4 or 5 — for a "perfect" solution. Chains that use fewer words earn a "genius" or "shortest solution" badge.

Chaining strategy

The best Letter Boxed solutions revolve around one long word that eats 8+ of the 12 letters. Once you find that word, the remaining 3–4 letters usually only need one or two more words to close the chain.

  1. Find the longest word first. Longer words dramatically reduce the letters you still need to place.
  2. Track leftover letters. After your longest word, note which of the 12 letters aren't yet used.
  3. Chain from the last letter. Your second word must start with the letter your first ended on.
  4. Cover the remaining letters in the second (and, if needed, third) word.

Common Letter Boxed openers

Long words that repeatedly appear in NYT Letter Boxed solutions:

  • SUBSTITUTE, PARENTHOOD, WATERMELON — for boards with common vowel + consonant coverage.
  • PSYCHIATRY, DIPLOMATIC, BUTTERSCOTCH — heavy consonant boards.
  • QUINCE, QUAINT, EQUITABLE — for the rare Q board.
  • KAYAK, LULLABY — for double-letter boards (rare, since Letter Boxed uses 12 unique letters).

When the solver returns a 10+ letter word from your set, that's almost certainly the intended "genius" opener.

The side-switching rule

Before typing any word into the NYT app, trace it: each consecutive letter must come from a different side of the square. That kills a lot of promising-looking words — e.g. if H, E, L are all on the same side, HELP is invalid because H→E→L breaks the rule twice.

The solver returns every dictionary word your letter set makes. Trace each candidate on the actual board layout before submitting.

Related

FAQs

What is Letter Boxed?

Letter Boxed is the New York Times daily puzzle: 12 unique letters arranged on the four sides of a square. You form words by moving between sides — no two consecutive letters may share a side — and you must use every letter in as few words as possible.

Does the solver enforce the 'no same side' rule?

It gives you every valid English word using only your 12 letters. It doesn't enforce the side-switching rule, so you'll need to double-check that consecutive letters in a candidate word come from different sides.

How do I chain words to hit the target?

Each new word must begin with the letter your previous word ended on. The puzzle also gives a target word count — usually 4 or 5 — for a 'perfect' solve.

Can letters repeat within a word?

Yes — but only if the letter appears twice as you move between sides. So words like APPLE (double P) require the letter to be on your board twice, which it isn't; use each letter only when it exists on the board.

Is there a shorter-solution version?

The community-favourite 'two-word' Letter Boxed solves find a pair of words that together use all 12 letters and chain. That's a harder problem than what this solver tackles single-word.