Shabda शब्द

About Shabda

Shabda (शब्द, meaning "word") is a word guessing game you can play in English or in Nepali. A hidden word is chosen, and you have six tries to find it. After each try, every box changes colour to tell you which of your letters are in the word and which are in the right place. It is a game of logic and vocabulary at the same time.

We wrote both word lists ourselves for this game. The English list has over 450 common five-letter words that a secondary school student will know, such as river, plant and pixel. The Nepali list has about 150 everyday words of three akshara (letters), such asकलम, बादल and किताब. There are no rude words and no obscure ones.

There are two ways to play. Daily gives everyone the same word each day, and your streak of daily wins in a row is counted for each language. Free play picks a random word every time, as often as you like. Your guesses and streaks stay in this browser.

How to play Shabda

1. Choose English or नेपाली, and Daily or Free play.
2. Type a guess on your keyboard or on the keys under the board, then press Enter. English words have 5 letters; Nepali words fill 3 boxes.
3. Green means the letter is in the word and in that exact place. Orange means it is in the word but somewhere else.
4. Blue (Nepali only) means the right consonant or vowel is in that box but with a different vowel sign or nasal mark. For example, का where the answer has कि.
5. Grey means the letter is not in the word. The keyboard keeps the same colours so you can see what is left.
6. Find the word within six tries to win. A repeated letter is only marked as many times as it appears in the answer.

Typing Nepali in the boxes

Each box holds one akshara: a letter plus any vowel sign and nasal mark that go with it. To type की, press क and then theी sign. To type गाउँ style sounds, typeउ then the chandrabindu ँ. The game counts boxes the way your browser splits Nepali text, so a vowel sign always joins the letter before it. None of the answers use half letters (conjuncts), so you never need the halant key to find the word. If you have a Nepali keyboard layout installed, you can type with it too.

A good way to start

In English, open with a word that uses common, different letters, like stare, plant or crane, then use your second guess to test five new letters. Only start aiming at the answer once you know three or four of its letters. In Nepali, the vowel sign ाappears in a large share of the answers, and letters like क,र, ल and स are common. A blue box is a strong clue: keep the letter, change only its sign.