Free Connections-Style Word Game

The "find the four hidden groups" puzzle has become a daily habit for a lot of households — including ours. You stare at sixteen words, your brain insists three of them obviously go together, and then the fourth slot ruins everything. It's a wonderful little trap. The catch is that the famous version is tied to one publisher, it's English-only, and most of the free copies you stumble onto online wrap the board in ads, pop-ups, and "tap to continue" nonsense before you've made a single guess.

So we built our own. Connections on iplay.free is a free, independent Connections-style word game: group 16 words into 4 hidden categories, with no ads, no login, no download, and nothing to buy — and it speaks 11 languages.

A quick, honest note up front: this is our own clean-room puzzle, not the New York Times product and not affiliated with it. Same satisfying "aha" shape; our own words, our own categories, our own code.

What is Connections?

You're shown a grid of 16 words. Hidden inside are four groups of four — words that share some connection. Sometimes the link is plain (types of fruit). Sometimes it's sneaky (words that can precede "house", or homophones, or things that come in pairs). Your job is to find all four groups.

The fun — and the difficulty — comes from the overlaps. A word will look like it belongs to two different groups, and only one of those is right. You select four words, submit your guess, and the board tells you if you nailed a group or not. Solve all four to win.

It's the puzzle people already love, with the friction removed: open the page and play.

Why play this free Connections-style game here

• No ads, no pop-ups, no tracking — just the board. Nothing to mis-tap, nothing collected, safe to hand to a kid.
• No account, no paywall — you don't need to sign in to anyone's ecosystem or keep a streak hostage. Open it and go.
• 11 languages — play in English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Arabic, Japanese, Italian, Russian, Turkish, and Brazilian Portuguese. The words and categories are written fresh per language, not machine-translated from English, so the wordplay actually works.
• Three difficulty levels — Relaxed, Classic, and Expert, so a curious nine-year-old and a stubborn adult can both find a board that fits.
• A built-in helper — when a group has you stuck, you can ask for a nudge instead of rage-quitting.
• Quietly educational — it builds vocabulary, categorization, and the lateral thinking of spotting why a word might mean two things at once.

Connections (NYT) vs. our free Connections-style game

We think the original is great. Here's an honest, side-by-side look at where an independent, ad-free version differs:

The trade-off is fair: the NYT board is a shared cultural moment with one puzzle a day. Ours is the same brain-tickle, free of ads and logins, in your language, whenever you want it.

Is it good for kids?

Yes — it's one of the better "screen time you don't have to police." There are no ads, no chat, no account, and nothing to buy, so there's nothing inappropriate to wander into and no data changing hands. We suggest ages 8 and up for solving solo; younger kids do great as a team with a parent. Connections is genuinely good for a developing brain — it rewards reading a word two ways at once, noticing patterns, and resisting the first answer that "feels" right. Set it to Relaxed and turn it into a two-minute breakfast huddle: everyone calls out which four they think go together.

How to play in 30 seconds

1. Read all 16 words before you touch anything — the trap is committing too early.
2. Find the group you're most sure of and lock that in first; a correct group clears four words and simplifies the board.
3. Watch for decoys — a word placed to look like it belongs to a group it doesn't.
4. Stuck? Use the helper for a nudge rather than guessing blindly.
5. Solve all four groups to win — then start a fresh round.

More free, no-ad word games

If Connections clicks for your family, the rest of the word games hub is free and ad-free too:

• Word Guess — a daily Wordle-style puzzle: guess the hidden word from colour clues, in all 11 languages.
• Word Search — find the hidden words in the letter grid; great for spelling and letter-spotting.
• Word Bee — make as many words as you can from a small set of letters; a spelling-bee-style word builder.

Browse the whole set of free word games, see every free game, or read our age-by-age guide to free, no-ad games that build kids' skills.

Quick answers about Connections

Is this the New York Times Connections game? No. This is an independent, clean-room Connections-style word game on iplay.free — the same "group 16 words into 4 hidden categories" idea, but our own words, categories, and code, and not affiliated with the New York Times.

Is it really free, with no ads? Yes — free forever, with no ads, no pop-ups, no tracking, no login, and no download. It runs in any browser.

How do you play Connections? You're shown 16 words hiding four groups of four. Pick the four you think share a link, submit, and the board tells you if the group is right. Clear all four groups to win.

Can kids play it? Yes. We suggest ages 8 and up to solve solo, and younger kids enjoy it as a team with a grown-up. There's a Relaxed level and a built-in helper for easier going.

What languages is it in? Eleven: English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Arabic, Japanese, Italian, Russian, Turkish, and Brazilian Portuguese — each with words and categories written for that language.

Ready to play? Open Connections — free, no ads →