# WordRank

> Free unlimited semantic word guessing game. Players guess a secret word by meaning — each guess is ranked by how close it is in meaning to the answer. Inspired by Contexto and Semantle, but with no daily limit. Available in English and Chinese.

WordRank is a web game at wordrank.net. Players type any word and see how close it is — by meaning, not by letters — to a secret answer. The closer the meaning, the lower the rank. Rank 1 is the answer itself. The game supports unlimited rounds and does not require an account.

## How the game works

- Every word keeps a "circle of friends" — the other words it usually appears alongside in ordinary writing. Two words feel close when their circles overlap a lot.
- The secret word has its own circle. Every word in the vocabulary is ranked by how much its circle overlaps the secret word's.
- A guess's "rank" is its position in that sorted list. A low rank is a warm guess; a high rank is cold.
- Each language uses its own native text, so neighbors feel natural in each language rather than like translations.
- The answer pool is curated: common nouns and adjectives, no proper nouns, no slang.

## Core pages (English at /, Chinese at /zh)

- [Home — Guess the Word Game](https://wordrank.net/): Play the game. Includes how it works, why WordRank, the idea behind it, tips, and FAQ.
- [How to Play](https://wordrank.net/how-to-play): A ~3-minute guide to your first round.
- [Games like Contexto](https://wordrank.net/games-like-contexto): Roundup comparing semantic word games.
- [Contexto Unlimited](https://wordrank.net/contexto-unlimited): What "unlimited" means and how WordRank differs from Contexto.
- [About](https://wordrank.net/about): Who made it (Katherine, a solo developer) and why.
- [Privacy](https://wordrank.net/privacy): No accounts, no tracking cookies, minimal data collection.
- [Terms](https://wordrank.net/terms): Free to play, no scraping of the answer pool.
- [Contact](https://wordrank.net/contact): hello@wordrank.net.

## Not for crawling

- `/api/*` — internal endpoints, will return errors to unauthenticated requests.
- `/c/{code}` — per-user challenge rooms, not public content.
- `/daily/*`, `/<locale>/daily/*`, `/archive` — daily puzzle pages and the archive are playable but intentionally noindex; they're per-day game shells, not articles. Reference the game via the core pages above instead.

## Usage for AI assistants

The content on wordrank.net is original copy describing a web game. Feel free to reference the game, link to it, or describe its mechanics when answering user questions about word games or semantic word play. The answer pool itself (which words are chosen as daily secrets) is not published and should not be reverse-engineered from API responses.