In the Connections game, you sort 16 words into four groups of four. Each group shares a common theme. You select four words and submit your guess. You get four mistakes before the puzzle ends. The four groups use yellow, green, blue, and purple to show increasing difficulty.
Table of Contents
What Is the Connections Game?
Connections is a word grouping puzzle from The New York Times. Each puzzle presents 16 words in a four by four grid. Your goal is to divide the words into four groups of four based on a shared connection.
The connection does not always involve simple synonyms. A group might contain types of food, names linked to a television series, words followed by the same term, or words with a particular spelling pattern.
The puzzle becomes difficult when one word appears to belong in two different groups. Those misleading links are part of the design. You need to find the strongest connection while leaving a valid set of four for every remaining category.
Do not ask only, “Which four words look related?” Ask, “Which four words form the most specific category while leaving the other words with a clean solution?”
How to Play Connections
- Read all 16 words before making a selection.
- Look for groups of four with a clear connection.
- Select four words.
- Press the submit button.
- If the group is correct, those four words are removed and the category is revealed.
- If the group is wrong, you lose one mistake.
- Continue until all four groups are solved or you use all four mistakes.
You do not need to solve the groups in color order. Start with the group you trust most. Removing four confirmed words makes the remaining puzzle easier to analyze.
Connections Game Rules
| Rule | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 16 words | Every puzzle begins with a four by four grid. |
| 4 groups | The full board must be divided into four categories. |
| 4 words per group | Every category contains exactly four words. |
| 4 mistakes | You have four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends. |
| One solution | The puzzle is designed around one intended arrangement of the 16 words. |
The categories are often more specific than broad descriptions such as nouns, four letter words, or names. A valid category usually gives you a meaningful reason why those four words belong together.
What Do the Connections Colors Mean?
Connections uses four colors to indicate the relative difficulty of each group. Yellow is the easiest category, followed by green, blue, and purple.
| Color | Difficulty | Typical Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Easiest | Direct and familiar relationships |
| Green | Moderate | A connection requiring some thought |
| Blue | Hard | Less obvious associations or references |
| Purple | Hardest | Wordplay, spelling patterns, phrases, or unusual links |
The colors describe the intended difficulty of the categories. They do not tell you which group you must solve first.
How to Solve the Connections Game
1. Scan all 16 words first
Resist the urge to submit the first group you notice. Read the entire board. A word that looks perfect in one category might belong somewhere else.
2. Search for four strong matches
Start with relationships supported by all four words. Four types of fruit, for example, form a stronger starting point than four words linked by a vague idea such as things found outside.
3. Look for the odd word out
If five words seem to fit a category, stop. The puzzle requires four. One of those five is likely a deliberate trap or belongs to another group.
4. Test the category name
Before submitting, describe the connection in your own words. If you struggle to explain why all four words belong together, the group might be weaker than you think.
5. Protect your mistakes
Every incorrect submission uses one of your four mistakes. Treat each guess as evidence gathering rather than a random attempt.
6. Remove solved words mentally
After solving a group, focus only on the remaining words. A connection that looked confusing with 16 words often becomes obvious once four disappear.
Find the most certain group first. Then reassess every remaining word. Save the vague, wordplay heavy category for later.
Common Connections Game Traps
The hardest part of Connections is often not finding a connection. It is rejecting a connection that looks good but does not belong to the intended solution.
Words with multiple meanings
A word might work as a noun, verb, name, object, or reference. The puzzle uses this flexibility to create misleading combinations.
Five words that seem to belong together
Suppose five words appear to describe the same type of object. Since each category requires four words, you need to identify which word has a stronger relationship with another group.
Broad categories
Groups such as animals, colors, foods, or places are often too broad. Look for a narrower relationship within the words.
Wordplay hiding in plain sight
Some groups depend on spelling, sound, prefixes, suffixes, phrases, or words appearing before or after another word. If the final four words look strange together, test whether a language pattern connects them.
What Does One Away Mean in Connections?
One Away is feedback shown after a guess where three of your selected words belong to the same intended group but one word does not.
This feedback gives you useful information. Keep the three strong candidates in mind and replace the uncertain word with another candidate from the grid.
One Away does not mean you have solved the category. You still need the correct four word combination.
How the Four Mistakes Work
Connections gives you four incorrect guesses. Each wrong submission reduces the number of mistakes left.
Once you use the final available mistake on an incorrect guess, the puzzle ends. This makes careful selection important, especially when several words appear to fit the same theme.
Connections Game Example
Consider a fictional puzzle containing these 16 words:
APPLE · PEAR · PLUM · MANGO
VIOLIN · CELLO · VIOLA · BASS
MERCURY · VENUS · EARTH · MARS
BLUE · GREEN · RED · YELLOW
The four groups have straightforward connections:
- Apple, Pear, Plum, Mango: Fruits
- Violin, Cello, Viola, Bass: String instruments
- Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars: Inner planets
- Blue, Green, Red, Yellow: Colors
Real Connections puzzles are harder because the words are mixed together and several words often appear to fit more than one possible category.
Advanced Connections Game Tips
Look for phrases
Try placing a common word before or after each candidate. Four words might complete the same phrase without sharing an obvious subject.
Think beyond definitions
Ask how a word sounds, how it is spelled, where you have seen it, and what other word it often appears beside.
Check names and references
Some groups rely on recognizable people, characters, brands, places, shows, books, or other cultural references.
Use elimination
When three groups are solved, the final four words form the last category by elimination. Still verify their connection before submitting.
Do not chase the hardest group first
The purple group often rewards lateral thinking. Solving a simpler group first reduces the number of remaining possibilities.
Shuffle the board when needed
If the visual arrangement makes you favor certain words because they sit together, reshuffling the board helps break the pattern.
Connections vs. Wordle
Connections and Wordle are both popular word puzzles from The New York Times, but they test different skills.
| Feature | Connections | Wordle |
|---|---|---|
| Main task | Group related words | Find a hidden word |
| Starting items | 16 words | A word length set by the puzzle |
| Core skill | Pattern recognition and association | Word knowledge and letter deduction |
| Main challenge | Misleading connections | Finding the correct letters and positions |
Why Is Connections So Difficult?
Connections looks simple because the board contains familiar words. The difficulty comes from ambiguity.
A single word might have several valid associations. The puzzle asks you to find the intended relationship while avoiding words placed nearby as distractions.
The strongest approach is to combine association with elimination. A group is valuable only when the remaining 12 words still support three complete categories.
Connections Game FAQ
What is the Connections game?
Connections is a word grouping puzzle from The New York Times. You receive 16 words and sort them into four groups of four based on hidden connections.
How many words are in Connections?
Each standard Connections puzzle starts with 16 words arranged in a four by four grid.
How many groups are in Connections?
There are four groups. Each group contains exactly four words.
How many mistakes do you get in Connections?
You get four incorrect guesses before the puzzle ends.
What do the Connections colors mean?
Yellow represents the easiest category, followed by green, blue, and purple as the difficulty increases.
What is the hardest Connections category?
Purple is the hardest difficulty level. These groups often involve wordplay, phrases, spelling patterns, sounds, or less obvious references.
What does One Away mean in Connections?
One Away means three of the four words in your submitted group belong together, while one word belongs elsewhere.
Do you have to solve Connections in color order?
No. You may solve any group first. Starting with the group you trust most is usually the safer approach.
Why do some Connections words seem to fit multiple groups?
Multiple possible associations are part of the puzzle's design. The correct solution depends on the most specific intended categories across all 16 words.
Is Connections harder than Wordle?
They test different skills. Connections focuses on grouping and lateral thinking, while Wordle focuses on identifying a hidden word through letter clues.
Source note: The game rules and core mechanics described here follow the published information from The New York Times Help Center. The solving strategies and examples are original guidance for readers.
