Red Herring Word Index
9,550 words tracked across 3,529 boards. 2,050 of them have been both a group answer and a red herring, which is exactly why recognising a word never settles a board on its own.
Every Word by First Letter
Each letter shows how many tracked words start with it. Words appearing on only one board are not listed — their single board tells the whole story, and it is on the daily archive.
Words That Are Usually Decoys
Eight or more appearances, ranked by how often they turned out to be red herrings rather than group answers. These are the words to leave until last.
The Words Red Herring Uses Most
The workhorses of the archive. Every one has been both an answer and a decoy at some point, which is the whole difficulty of the game in one list.
What a Word's History Does and Does Not Tell You
A decoy rate is a warning, not a verdict
2,050 words have been both an answer and a red herring. A high rate means leave it until the groups you are sure of are locked — not that it cannot belong to one today.
Some words are almost always traps
1,620 words in this archive have never belonged to a group. Those are worth recognising on sight; the trickiest list ranks them.
The board still decides
Three groups of four plus four herrings, every time. Count to sixteen, lock the tightest theme, and use a word's history only to break a tie — the full order is in the how to play guide.
How to Solve a Red Herring Board
The order that clears a board fastest.
Count to sixteen first
Three groups of four plus four red herrings. Four words are meant to be left over — see any board in the archive.
Lock the tightest theme
Solve the most specific group first; each correct group removes four candidates from the rest.
Check the near-misses here
A word that almost fits two groups is usually a decoy, and this index says how often that has actually been true.
Verified Answers, Not Guesses
How we verify a page for every word used on more than one board, with its answer and decoy record
Word histories are derived from the 3,529 dated boards we archive; the game publishes no word list of its own. Every appearance links back to the board it came from so any figure here can be checked. The routine is in our methodology and the standards in our editorial policy.
Reviewed by Priya Raghunathan, Word Games Editor at Puzzle Solved. The full checking routine is in the methodology, and the standards every page is held to are in the editorial policy.
Last checked — Aug 24, 2026