Word Crush

717K plays

Swap the candy letters to line up 3 in a row and crush them! Every letter you crush fills in a word, like cat, hat and bat. Make rockets, bombs and rainbows, and spell every word before your moves run out.

Swipe. Slide. Crunch! Three shiny red C tiles line up in a row and burst like candy. A little C flies up out of the pop and lands in a box next to a picture of a 🐱. Two more crunches, and the boxes say CAT. That is how a round of Word Crush for kids feels. It looks like a sweet candy game, but every candy is a letter, and every crunch helps you spell a real word.

You swap letter tiles to make rows of three, set off rockets, bombs and rainbows, and fill in words like cat, hat and bat before your moves run out. Kids clearly love it. Word Crush has been played more than 700,000 times on KidWorld, and almost 2,500 players have rated it 4.9 out of 5 stars.

🍬 A Candy Game With a Spelling Secret

Word Crush is a match-3 game. "Match-3" means you move pieces so that three or more of the same kind sit in a straight line, and then they disappear. New pieces fall down from the top to fill the gaps. If those new pieces make another line, that crushes too. That chain is called a cascade, and it can keep going on its own.

Many match-3 games use jelly beans or gems. In Word Crush, every tile is a big, bouncy letter with its own color. At the top of the screen sits a word card. It shows a picture, like a 🎩, and one empty box for each letter of the word. Every time you crush a letter the word still needs, that letter zooms up into its box. Fill every box and the word is spelled!

Each stage has a few words to spell, usually three or four. A row of little picture circles under the word card shows them all. The one you are working on has a green ring. Finished ones get a green check mark. Spell every word before the moves counter in the top corner reaches zero, and you win the stage.

🔤 Why the Board Only Has a Few Letters

Here is a clever thing about this game. A board full of all 26 letters would almost never make three in a row. So each stage uses only the letters of its own words. And those words are picked so they share most of their letters.

For the youngest players, the words come in word families. A word family is a group of words that end the same way. The -at family is CAT, HAT and BAT. The -ug family is BUG, MUG and HUG. That stage only needs five letters: C, H, B, A and T. So the board is made of just those five colors. You see the same ending again and again, and your brain starts to notice the pattern: change the first letter, get a new word!

Older players get sound teams like SH, CH, EE and IGH, such as SHIP, SHOP and FISH. The oldest players get something even trickier. Their words hide inside the letters of one big word. Mix up the letters of EARTH and you get HEART. From PLANET you can make PLANT and PETAL. From MONKEY you can make MONEY and KEY. It is like a secret word puzzle hiding inside a candy game.

🍭 How Word Crush for Kids Works on KidWorld

Pick your level. The first screen says Choose Your Level. Tap Toddlers (ages 2–4), Preschool (ages 4–6), Elementary (ages 6–10) or Tweens (ages 10–12). The game remembers your choice. If it skips this screen, tap ⚙️ Change Level at the top to come back.
Choose a stage on the map. Every level has its own map of stage cards, 13 or 14 of them. Each card shows its title, the pictures of its words and up to three ⭐ stars. Only stage 1 is open at first. The next one opens as soon as you play the one before it all the way to the end, even if you run out of moves. A locked card shows a 🔒 and gives a little shake if you tap it.
Look at the word card. You see the picture, the letter boxes and a green 🔊 button. Tap 🔊 to hear the word read out loud.
Swap two tiles next to each other. Drag a tile one step up, down, left or right with your finger or mouse. Or tap one tile (it lights up), then tap its neighbor. Tap the same tile again to let go of it. Tiles can only swap with a neighbor that touches their side, not a corner.
Make three or more in a row. If your swap makes a line, the tiles crush, and the letters the word needs fly into their boxes. If your swap makes no line, the two tiles slide back with a wobble. Good news: a swap that doesn't work does not use up a move.
Watch the moves counter. Every swap that works costs one move. When only 3 moves are left, the number turns red and starts to pulse, to warn you.
Wait a moment if you're stuck. If you stop touching the board for a few seconds, two tiles start to wiggle. That is a free hint showing a good swap. You can use hints as often as you like.
See your result. When the words are done (or the moves run out), a card pops up. It says Stage Complete!, Wordtastic! for three stars, or Out of Moves!. It lists every word with a ✓ or ✗, a 🔊 button to hear each one, your points and your stars.
Keep going. Tap Next Stage, Play Again, or Stages to go back to the map. The play page also has buttons for fullscreen, reloading the game and turning the music and sounds on or off.

💥 Rockets, Bombs and Rainbows

Crushing three in a row is great. Crushing four or five is even better, because it makes a special tile. A special tile goes off when it gets crushed in a line. Every letter a special blast clears still counts for your word!

🚀 The rocket: 4 in a line

Line up four of the same letter and you get a rocket tile with a little arrow on it. An ↔ arrow clears its whole row. An ↕ arrow clears its whole column. Here is the fun part: four in a line going across makes a rocket that shoots up and down. Four in a line going up and down makes a rocket that shoots across.

💣 The bomb: an L or a T

If two lines of the same letter meet at a corner, like the letter L or the letter T, you get a bomb tile with a 💥 badge. When it goes off, it clears the 3 by 3 square of tiles around it. That is nine tiles in one boom.

🌈 The rainbow: 5 in a line

Line up five of the same letter in a straight line and you make a rainbow tile. It shows a ★ instead of a letter. Swap it with any tile next to it, and every tile with that letter on the whole board gets crushed. You don't even need a line to use it!

✨ Special + special combos

Swap two special tiles together for a giant combo:

Rocket + rocket clears a whole row and a whole column at once, in a big plus shape.
Rocket + bomb makes a giant cross: three rows and three columns wide.
Bomb + bomb blows up a 5 by 5 square.
Rainbow + rocket or bomb turns every tile of that letter into a rocket or bomb, and then they all go off.
Rainbow + rainbow clears the entire board!

When one crush makes more tiles fall and crush again, cheerful words pop up: Great!, then Super!, then Amazing!, and for a long chain, Wordtastic!

🧠 Crushing Smarter: From First Swap to Three Stars

Anyone can crush letters. Spelling every word with moves to spare takes a plan. These tips start easy and get sneakier. Every one of them works because of how this game's rules really work.

Tip 1: Look for the letter the word needs

Before you swap, look at the empty boxes. Which letters are missing? Now look for those colors on the board. A crush of letters the word doesn't need still clears space, but it doesn't fill a box. A crush of letters it does need moves you closer to winning.

The board helps you, too. New tiles that fall in are more likely to be the letters your word still needs. So if you can't find an A right now, clear some other tiles and let more drop in.

Tip 2: Find the "two and a gap" shape

The quickest way to spot a move is to look for two matching tiles with a friend nearby. There are two common shapes:

Two in a row, one around the corner. Two H tiles sit side by side. Right next to the end of that pair, one row up, is a third H. Slide that H down one step, and you have three H's in a row.
Two with a hole in the middle. An A, then a different letter, then another A. Find a third A just above or below the middle tile, and swap it into the hole.

Train your eyes to look for pairs first. Pairs are where almost every move begins.

Tip 3: Crush low on the board

When you crush tiles near the bottom, everything above them falls down. More falling tiles means more chances for a new line to form all by itself. That is a free cascade, and it doesn't cost a move! Crushing near the top only brings in a few new tiles. When two moves look equally good, pick the lower one.

Tip 4: A four is worth waiting for

If you can make a line of three now, or set up a line of four with a little care, the four is often better. It gives you a rocket to use later. A rocket that clears a whole row or column can grab two or three letters you need in one move.

Tip 5: Use the wiggle hint to learn

The hint picks swaps in a smart order. It likes rainbows best, then special + special combos, then matches that crush the letters your word needs, and bigger matches that make special tiles. So when two tiles wiggle, don't just copy the move. Ask yourself why the game picked it. Soon you will spot those moves before the wiggle starts.

📝 Five Stages, Worked Out Step by Step

Here are real stages from the game, and how to think them through.

Example 1: The -at Family (Toddlers)

The words are CAT 🐱, HAT 🎩 and BAT 🦇. You have 11 moves. At this level you can fill the boxes in any order, and the pale letters in the boxes show you the word.

CAT needs C, A and T. You spot two red C tiles side by side, with a third C just below the square next to them. Slide that C up. Crunch! The C box fills.
Next, crush three A tiles. The A box fills. Now CAT only needs T.
Here is the trick: crush three T tiles. The first T finishes CAT. The game doesn't throw the others away! A leftover letter carries on to the next word, so the second T jumps straight into HAT's T box.

That is how one swap can help two words at once. In the game, following the wiggle hints, this whole stage was once finished in just two moves, thanks to long cascades.

Example 2: The -all Family (Preschool)

The words are BALL ⚽, TALL 🦒, WALL 🧱 and FALL 🍂. They all end in LL, so L is the busiest letter. Say you have made a rainbow tile and BALL already has its B and A. Swap the rainbow with an L. Every L on the board crushes. Two L's finish BALL. Two more carry on into TALL's L boxes. Now TALL only needs a T and an A.

But notice: TALL isn't finished yet, so the carrying stops there. The rest of those L's don't reach WALL. A rainbow is most powerful when it can finish words, so use it on a letter that finishes the word you're on.

Example 3: Letters SH (Elementary)

The words are SHIP 🚢, SHOP 🏪 and FISH 🐟, with 23 moves. At this level the rule changes: you must crush letters in spelling order. The next box to fill glows yellow, and a tip under the board says something like Next letter: I — line up 3 of it!

Say S and H are already in. The I box is glowing. You see a great line of three P tiles. Should you take it? Not yet! A P crushed now won't count, because SHIP needs its I first. Find the I's instead.

One helpful detail: if a single crush clears an I and a P together (like a rocket going through both), both count. The I fills its box first, and then the P fills the next one.

Example 4: The mystery word (Tweens)

At the Tweens level, the word is hidden. You see a picture 🌍, five empty boxes and a clue: The planet we live on. On the map, unplayed stages even say Mystery words instead of their title.

Think: a planet, five letters, the one we live on. It must be EARTH.
Not sure? Tap 🔊 and listen. It reads the word, like a spelling test.
Now spell it in order: E first, then A, R, T and H. The first box glows until you crush an E.

After EARTH come HEART ❤️ (It pumps blood around your body), SHARE 🤝 and TEETH 🦷. The letters are nearly the same, so a crushed letter you can't use now will often be needed very soon. This stage gives you 33 moves, the most of any stage in the game.

Example 5: When to fire the rainbow (Tweens)

You're spelling TEETH, and the first box is glowing for T. You have a rainbow tile. Should you swap it with an E right now, because TEETH has two E's? No! In spelling order, the T comes first. If you blast every E now, none of them can go in, because the T box is still empty.

So wait. First crush a line of T's the normal way. Now the second box glows for E, and the third box wants an E too. Now swap the rainbow with an E. Every E on the board crushes, and both E boxes fill in one move: T, E, E. The rainbow is strongest when the next boxes in a row want the same letter. Look for double letters, like the EE in TEETH and SPEED or the OO in DOOR.

⭐ How Points and Stars Are Counted

Every stage gives you up to 100 points:

Up to 70 points for the words you spell. Spell 2 of 3 words and you get 47 points.
10 bonus points for spelling every word.
Up to 20 more points for moves you have left when you finish.

Stars only come when every word is spelled. For 3 stars, finish with about a third of your moves still left (30% of them, to be exact). The result card tells you the number: For 3 stars, finish with 3 or more moves left.

Let's use the -at Family again. It has 11 moves, so 3 stars need 3 moves left. Finish with 3 or more left: 3 stars and 100 points. Finish with 2 left: 2 stars and 93 points. Finish with 1 or 0 left: 1 star. Run out of moves before the last word: no stars, but you still keep points for the words you spelled, and the next stage still opens.

Your best stars for each stage are saved in your browser, and the map shows your total, like 3 / 42 stars. Want a fresh start? Tap Start this level over under the map, then tap again to make sure.

🙈 Oops! Easy Mistakes to Skip

Chasing the wrong letter. At Elementary and Tweens, only the glowing box counts. Look at it before every swap.
Wasting the rainbow. A rainbow on a letter the word doesn't need right now is just a pretty explosion. Save it.
Only crushing at the top. Top crushes rarely cause cascades. Bottom crushes often do.
Rushing. There is no timer in Word Crush. Only moves count. Take your time and look.
Worrying about getting stuck. You can't get stuck. The board never starts with lines already made, and if no swap is left, it mixes itself up with a big Shuffle!

🎂 Word Crush for Every Age, From Two to Twelve

The level you pick changes the board size, the words and the rules. Here is what each one feels like.

🐣 Word Crush for toddlers (ages 2–4)

The board is 7 by 7 with only four or five letters on it. There are 14 stages of three-letter word families, like the -at, -ug, -og and -ow families. Boxes fill in any order, and pale letters in each box show the word. With sound on, the game says each new word out loud, and says it again when it's finished. Hints wiggle after about 3 seconds. A grown-up can sit close, point to the picture and say the word together, while the child does the swiping.

🎨 Word Crush for preschoolers (ages 4–6)

The board grows to 8 by 8, with up to six letters. The 13 stages move to four-letter families and blends: BALL and TALL, FISH and WISH, CAKE and LAKE, MOON and SPOON. Boxes still fill in any order and the words still show, and they are still read aloud. Hints wait about 4 seconds.

📐 Word Crush for elementary kids (ages 6–10)

Now the letters must go in spelling order. The next box glows, and the tip under the board names the letter you need. The 13 stages practice sound teams like SH, CH, TH, CK, AI, OA, EE, OU, IGH and ANK. Stages give from 11 up to 27 moves. Hints wait about 5 seconds, so kids get a real chance to find moves on their own first.

🚀 Word Crush for tweens (ages 10–12)

The biggest board, 9 by 9, and the hardest rule: the words are hidden. Tweens get only a picture, a clue and the 🔊 button. Each of the 13 stages is built from one big word, like EARTH, CASTLE, GARDEN, SPIDER or DOCTOR, and the other words hide inside its letters. It's a vocabulary quiz, a spelling test and a match-3 puzzle all at once. Hints wait about 6 seconds.

🌱 What Kids Learn Between the Crunches

Behind all the popping and sparkling, Word Crush for kids is quietly a reading and spelling lesson. Here is what happens while your child is busy crushing.

Word families stick. After you crush your way through CAT, HAT and BAT, you have seen "-at" over and over. That pattern helps children read new words they have never seen, like MAT or SAT.

Spelling order becomes a habit. At the Elementary and Tweens levels, you can't win by grabbing letters in any order. You have to think "S, then H, then I, then P" every single time. That is exactly how good spellers think.

Listening turns into spelling. For tweens, the 🔊 button reads a hidden word. Turning a sound you hear into letters you choose is the heart of a spelling test.

Eyes get sharper. Hunting for pairs and "two and a gap" shapes on a busy board trains children to scan carefully, a skill that also helps when reading a page.

Planning pays off. Should you take the easy three now, or set up a rocket? Should you save the rainbow? Every stage asks kids to think one move ahead, and the stars show them when planning worked.

Mistakes are safe. A swap that doesn't work costs nothing. Running out of moves still opens the next stage. Children never hit a wall, so they keep trying.

A note for grown-ups

Word Crush is bright, calm and friendly. There is nothing scary inside the game and no timer ticking down. Every word is a simple, everyday word with a picture. Hints are free and never punish your child. Progress is saved in the browser on your device. The game practices phonics and word families, spelling in the right order, vocabulary from clues, listening, visual scanning and simple planning. A great way to join in: ask your child to say each finished word out loud, or to think of one more word that fits the family.

The letters are waiting on the board. Pick your level, find that first line of three, and listen for the crunch. Play Word Crush for kids on KidWorld today and see how many stars you can collect! 🍬⭐