Free · No sign-up
Settle it one on one.
Start a duel, send the link to one person, and you both get the same jumbled word and the same clue at the same moment. First to untangle it wins. Nobody hosts, nobody referees. You are both just playing.
Two players, one link. Both of you join from your own device.
No account needed · Works in any browser · Free to start
Why teams use this
Just the two of you
A duel seats exactly two. No lobby to fill, no spectators, no host sitting out. Send the link to one person and play.
Same clue, same second
You both see the identical jumble the moment your opponent arrives. No turns, no waiting. Whoever gets there first, gets it.
One more round
Losing is the point. Run it back straight away and see whether it was skill or luck.
How it works
Press start
A duel opens with a clue and a scrambled word. No setup, no account.
Send the link
Message it to the one person you want to beat. They join from any browser.
Race
You both work the same puzzle at once. Fastest correct answer takes the round.
About Duel
A two-player word game for the classroom
Both players get the same jumbled word and the same clue at the same moment, and the first to unscramble it takes the round. Because the puzzle is identical and simultaneous, nobody is waiting for a turn, which is what usually kills a head-to-head game with thirty children in the room. Pair them up, run several duels at once, and every student is playing rather than watching.
Using it for vocabulary and spelling
Unscrambling a word is a different task from recalling it. A student has to hold the letters, test an arrangement against a meaning from the clue, and reject the ones that do not fit. That is retrieval practice with a self-marking answer, which is why it works as a five-minute starter on a word list the class met last week rather than only as an end-of-term filler.
Pairing without creating a mismatch
Head-to-head is motivating when the two are close and demoralising when they are not. Pair by rough confidence rather than by ability on paper, and rotate pairs between rounds so nobody is locked into losing. A short ladder, where winners move up a pair and everyone plays again, keeps it moving without anyone tracking a scoreboard.
When there is no time to set anything up
Press start, send one link, play. There is no account, no class list, nothing to install, and it runs on whatever the student already has in front of them. That matters most on the days it is most useful: a covered lesson, a wet break, or the ten minutes left after an assessment finishes early.
Questions, answered
- Do we need accounts to duel?
- No. Press start, send the link, play. This page stays free however often you use it. Word Duel runs on one of our paid activity types, so saving a board and building your own rounds needs an upgrade, not just an account.
- Can more than two people join?
- No. A duel is capped at two on purpose. If a third person opens the link they are told the duel is full. Use a normal board if you want a group.
- Who goes first?
- Neither. You both get the same puzzle at the same time and race it, so there is no turn order and no advantage in joining first.
- What happens if my opponent leaves?
- The duel stays open on your screen. Send the link to someone else, or start a fresh one.
More instant tools
Ready when you are.
Start now with no account. Want to save your results or run it again with the same team? A free account keeps everything.
Nobody to send the link to?
Join the public matchmaking queue and we will pair you with the next signed-in stranger looking for the same game. Requires an account.
Find a stranger to duel