Word index

Red Herring Words Starting With S

Every word beginning with S, and how often it was a decoy — page 1 of 4

1,097 words starting with S, shown 300 at a time. This page lists 1–300. Each links to every board it has appeared on.

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1,097Words with S

4Pages

9,550Words tracked

3,529Boards archived

Word index

Words Starting With S — Page 1

Each word links to every board it has appeared on, with the share of those boards where it was a decoy. See the full word index or the daily archive.

Showing 1–300 of 1,097 words · 300 per page

Using the index

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 play

How to Solve a Red Herring Board

The order that clears a board fastest.

STEP 01

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.

STEP 02

Lock the tightest theme

Solve the most specific group first; each correct group removes four candidates from the rest.

STEP 03

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.

How we check

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

Numbers

Red Herring by the numbers

9,550Words tracked

2,050Answer and decoy

56,464Word slots archived

3,529Boards archived

Good to know

Word Index FAQ

What is the Red Herring word index?

A page for every word that has appeared on more than one board — 9,550 of them — recording how often it belonged to a themed group and how often it was one of the four red herrings.

Which words are most likely to be decoys?

The ones on the trickiest list. Basil leads it, a red herring on 16 of its 17 appearances. 2,050 words have been both an answer and a decoy, which is why a word alone never settles a board.

Where does this come from?

From the 3,529 boards in our daily archive. The game publishes no word history, so this exists only because every board is kept.

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