Crack the case in Word Detective, a free online word-guessing game. Read the clue and guess the hidden English word one letter at a time — but six wrong guesses and the case is closed. Clues use CEFR-levelled vocabulary (Pre-A1 to B1) for beginner and elementary learners.
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🕵️ Word Detective
1Read the clue carefully
2Type one letter at a time
3You have 6 wrong guesses
💡Tip: Use your language to check understanding — then try switching to English-only mode to challenge yourself!
Word Detective is a free online word-guessing game in the spirit of hangman. You’re given a clue and a row of blanks — guess the hidden English word letter by letter before your guesses run out. It’s a fun way to practise spelling, vocabulary and a little deduction.
Step by step
Read the clue to get an idea of the hidden word.
Guess a letter. If it’s in the word, it appears in the right place(s).
If it’s not, you use up one of your six chances.
Keep guessing letters to reveal the whole word.
Solve it before six wrong guesses — or the case is closed!
Tips to crack the case
Start with common vowels (e, a) and frequent consonants (r, s, t, n).
Once you have a few letters, read the clue again — the meaning narrows it down fast.
Think about likely endings to fill the last blanks.
Who it’s for
Clues use CEFR-levelled vocabulary (Pre-A1 to B1), so Word Detective suits beginner and elementary ESL learners and works as a whole-class guessing game too.
