Contexto hint for today, no spoilers: check your number, then take one step

Today’s Contexto hint, in one line

The best Contexto hint today is one you already have: your lowest number. That’s your best guess, and it tells you which move to make next.

• Over 1,500: you’re in the wrong world. Jump somewhere new.
• 300 to 1,500: right area, wrong street. Ask where the word lives.
• Under 300: you’re in the neighborhood. Stop jumping and follow your best word.
• Under 50: it’s family now. Try its siblings, its partners and the family name.

Each move is explained below. None of it gives away today’s word, so the find stays yours.

How to read Contexto’s numbers

Contexto gives every guess a position. The secret word is number 1, and every other word is ranked by how close it is in meaning. You can guess as many times as you like.

Two things are worth knowing before your next guess.

The numbers aren’t evenly spaced. Dropping from 4,000 to 2,000 looks like a giant leap, but that far out, words are only loosely related to the answer. Dropping from 200 to 40 is a much bigger step in meaning. So don’t celebrate a big drop far out, and don’t lose heart when the last few hundred go slowly.

Only your best guess counts. Your newest word is rarely your best word. Every next guess should start from the lowest number on your list, not from whatever you just typed.

A rank is hot and cold in disguise

It helps to read the numbers the way you read the old children’s game of hot and cold. A big number is cold. A small one is warm. Number 1 is the fire. You’re not solving a math problem. You’re following a temperature.

Here’s what that looks like in a game that shows a temperature instead of a rank. Each guess answers one plain question about the best word so far. The secret word is saddle:

1. cloud37 °FFreezing: nothing up in the sky
2. leather100 °FLukewarm: what could it be made of?
3. barn133 °FWarm: where would you find it?
4. horse172 °FHot: what does it go on?
5. cowboy178 °FHot: who uses it?
6. stirrup196 °FScorching: what hangs from it?
7. saddleFound it!

Notice that nothing here is a lucky shot. Leather asks what it’s made of. Barn asks where it’s kept. Horse and cowboy ask what it goes on and who uses it. Stirrup is the thing hanging right beside it, and from there it’s one guess. In Contexto, the same climb would show up as a number falling toward 1.

Try it now: what’s your first guess?

Guess

Your word goes straight into today’s game.

Over 1,500: jump to a new field

If your best guess is still far off, polishing it won’t help. A word ranked in the thousands is barely pointing anywhere. Jump instead, with five plain words from five different worlds:

• something alive (goat, daisy)
• something you eat (muffin)
• something in the house (sofa, clock)
• a place (farm, garage)
• something you do or feel (bowling, worry)

Plain words beat clever ones here. The aim isn’t to find the word yet, only to see which world wakes up.

A simple rule for when to leave: if ten guesses in a row haven’t lowered your best number, you’re circling. Pick a world you haven’t tried and start over from there.

300 to 1,500: climb the ladder of questions

You’re in the right area, so stop scattering. Ask your best word questions and answer each one with a guess, one rung at a time:

1. What world is it in? Nature, the home, town, work, the body, feelings.
2. Where would you find it? A kitchen, a barn, a hospital, the beach.
3. What is it for, or what does it do?
4. Who uses it? People and jobs pull in many things at once.
5. What is it made of, or what is it part of?

When a rung lowers your number, stay on it for another guess or two before you climb to the next.

Under 300: stop jumping, start following

This is where a lot of time gets lost. You’re close, the number stalls, and the hand reaches for a random word from a new area. Don’t. Under 300 you’re in the neighborhood, and every guess should start from your best word.

If the number won’t budge, take a sideways step instead of a leap: change the kind of word. Been typing things? Try a place or an action. Been typing actions? Try the thing that does them, or the person who does them.

Under 50: it’s family now

This close, the secret word is often one of three things:

• a sibling, another member of the same family as your best word,
• a partner, the thing it’s always paired with,
• the family name, the bigger word that covers them all.

Try one of each. Then think plain: the most ordinary word for the thing, the one a ten-year-old would use. Under 10? List every sibling you can think of and try them one by one. You’re nearly there.

Contexto’s own hint, and the no-spoiler rule

Contexto has a Hint in its menu. It adds one word to your list for you, and the game goes on. Give up is the option that shows the answer, so save that one for the days you’re truly done. If the ladder hasn’t moved your number in a while, the built-in Hint is the cleanest help there is.

Pages promising “today’s closest words” are a different matter. The top of that list points straight at number 1, so it’s the answer in disguise. If you want the find to feel like yours, skip them.

When today’s Contexto is done

If you’d like one more secret word in your morning, Warmer Warmer plays the hot and cold idea straight. Every guess gets a temperature, from freezing to scorching, and the word is found by meaning, not spelling. There’s one new word every day at your midnight, the same for everyone. It’s free in the browser, with no app and no sign-up.

Its “I need a hint” button won’t hand you a word. It shows you who can help: the players’ Facebook group, where people help each other every day, or family or friends you can send the game to. And once you’ve found the day’s word, a free account opens the Hot Word, one harder word for the whole week, and the Trail, four secret words in a row.

For the full method, from the first wide guesses to the last close ones, read the Contexto strategy guide. Stuck on Semantle too? There’s a Semantle hint without spoilers. New to the whole idea? Start with the hot and cold word game. Or put the ladder to work on today’s word.