STRATEGY GUIDE

How to Solve Bridge Words

A bridge word puzzle gives you two words and asks for the one hidden word that forms a real compound word with both — like NEWS ‹ ? › BACK, where the answer is PAPER (NEWSPAPER + PAPERBACK). Here's how to crack them consistently.

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The four-step method

1. Start from the side you find easier. One of the two words almost always suggests more compounds. List its likely partners first, then test each against the other side.
2. Treat one-side matches as clues. A guess that turns green on only one side is a strong clue — you've found a real compound, just not the shared one. Stay in that word family.
3. Try very common "joining" words first. Words like WORK, BOOK, BALL, ROOM, SIDE, HOUSE appear in dozens of compounds, so they're high-value early guesses.
4. Use the length hint to narrow fast. Once the puzzle reveals the word length, discard every candidate that doesn't fit.

Walk through an example

Start from WATER: waterfall, watermelon, waterproof, watermark… Now test each against OUT. MELON + OUT? No. PROOF + OUT? No. FALL + OUT = FALLOUT — and WATERFALL is real too. The bridge is FALL.

Practice on these (not from the daily rotation)

Cover the answers and try each one. These are teaching examples only — they never appear as daily puzzles.

Want more? There's a full page of worked bridge word examples.

Put it into practice

The real thing is one puzzle a day, five guesses, gentle hints if you get stuck — and it takes about a minute.

Play today's puzzle →

New puzzle every day at midnight. Free, no sign-up, works in any browser.