How to Play Pair Down
Pair Down is a free daily word game from Jeff Chen and Jim Horne. Each row is a word with extra letters hidden inside it — pull the hidden letters out and a new word is left behind. The letters you removed, read top to bottom, spell a secret word or phrase. If you love Wordle, there’s a fresh Pair Down puzzle to play online every day, in both Easy and Hard modes.
Level One: remove one letter per row
In Level One, remove exactly one letter from each row so the letters that remain still spell a real word.
The letters you removed — Y, E, S — spell the secret word YES. That secret word is a hint for Level Two.
Level Two: remove two letters per row
Level Two ups the challenge: remove two consecutive letters from each row, again leaving a real word behind. The letters you pull out spell the day’s secret phrase.
Remove YW, OI, and UN to leave SPARE, LED, and BEG. The first letters you removed spell YOU and the second letters spell WIN — the secret phrase.
Easy and Hard modes
In Easy mode every letter is visible — you just choose which to remove. In Hard mode some letters are fuzzed out and come into focus when you click them; use fewer clicks to earn more stars.
Scoring and stars
Solve a level cleanly to earn the most stars. Each Reveal or Check you use costs one star, and you earn a bonus 6th star if you only ever click the correct tiles.
Frequently asked questions
Is Pair Down free to play?
Yes. Pair Down is a free daily word game — there’s a new puzzle every day, and you don’t need an app or an account to play online.
Is there a new puzzle every day?
Every day brings a fresh Pair Down, with Easy and Hard modes and two levels in each, so there’s always a new word puzzle to solve.
Can I play past Pair Down puzzles?
Yes — visit the Archive to play puzzles from previous days.
What’s the difference between Easy and Hard mode?
In Easy mode every letter is visible and you choose which to remove. In Hard mode some letters are fuzzed out until you click them into focus — use fewer clicks to earn more stars.
Is Pair Down like Wordle?
It’s a daily word puzzle in the same spirit as Wordle, but with a different twist: instead of guessing, you remove the hidden letters from each row to reveal a new word and a secret answer.