Merriam-Webster now has its own, appropriately impossible Wordle clone

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It joins the company's already substantial collection of word games and quizzes.

Quordle answer
(Image credit: NurPhoto)

In the slew of Wordle imitators that emerged in the wake of its success last year, there are a few real standouts. There's Nerdle, that challenges you to guess a maths equation; Worldle, which looks like a spelling error but is actually the one where you have to figure out a country from its silhouette; and, on the more intimidating end, there's Quordle.

Quordle asks you to solve four Wordles simultaneously, all on one big grid. Every guess you make is applied to all four—even with a generous nine guesses, it's still a nightmare of brain multitasking. 

But clearly Merriam-Webster thinks it has a bright future ahead of it. The company, known primarily for its US dictionaries, has bought Quordle, according to the game's official twitter account. The URL has already changed to reflect the acquisition, and Merriam-Webster has welcomed it to its "family" of word games and quizzes. 

If you didn't realise there was a family of word games and quizzes owned by a dictionary company, we're in the same boat, but on their site you can enjoy such delights as Name That Thing, Spell It, What's That From? and What Are You Wearing?. I'm now starting to wonder whether Quordle has a literal enough name for this collection. 

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

Quordle's certainly not the first word game in the genre to get snapped up. Wordle was, of course, acquired by the New York Times at the start of last year for an amount "in the low seven figures", while Heardle (Wordle with music) was bought by Spotify last summer. If you're a company CEO looking for your own Wordle-like to buy, perhaps as a gift for your secretary, why not have a browse of our list of the best ones? I bet you could get Squareword for a fair price these days.  

Robin Valentine
Robin Valentine
Senior Editor

Formerly the editor of PC Gamer magazine (and the dearly departed GamesMaster), Robin combines years of experience in games journalism with a lifelong love of PC gaming. First hypnotised by the light of the monitor as he muddled through Simon the Sorcerer on his uncle’s machine, he’s been a devotee ever since, devouring any RPG or strategy game to stumble into his path. Now he's channelling that devotion into filling this lovely website with features, news, reviews, and all of his hottest takes.