Help
Polyphonia FAQ
Answers to common questions about Polyphonia, the daily word-association puzzle.
What is Polyphonia?
Polyphonia is a free daily word-association puzzle. Each day you get a start word and a goal word, and you link from word to word until you reach the goal. There are six kinds of link: Echo (rhyme), Thread (same meaning), Rift (opposite), Fusion (phrase), Root (kind or part) and Spark (go together). Your words form a constellation on a night sky, and each link type has its own colour, line style and musical note.
How do you play Polyphonia?
Type a word that links to the word you are on. If the link counts, the word joins your constellation and the game shows which type of link it is. You can link from any word already on the board, not only the newest one, so you can branch. Keep going until you link into the goal word. For example, from “glacier” to “sing”: glacier → ice (Root) → cover (Fusion: “ice cover”) → song (Fusion: “cover song”) → sing. See How to play.
Is Polyphonia free?
Yes. Polyphonia is free to play in any web browser on a phone, tablet or computer. There is nothing to download and no account or sign-up.
How is Polyphonia scored?
Your score is the number of links on your board when you reach the goal, plus one for each hint you used. Lower is better. Par is the length of the shortest route the puzzle generator verified: 3–4 links on Easy, 4–5 on Medium and 5–6 on Hard. Finishing under par is possible if you find a shorter route. Every link on the board counts, including side branches that didn’t lead to the goal, so undo dead ends (undo is free) before you finish.
What is par in Polyphonia?
Par is the number of links in the shortest route the puzzle generator found and checked with the link judge. It is 3–4 on Easy, 4–5 on Medium and 5–6 on Hard. Par is shown next to the puzzle, and your result is shown against it (for example “+1” for one over par).
What counts as a rhyme?
Two words rhyme (an Echo link) when they sound the same from the last stressed vowel to the end, by the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary: cat → hat, rain → train. Homophones count too (night → knight, flower → flour), and a plural “s” doesn’t stop a rhyme (cat → hats). Near rhymes that work in many accents, like lost → cost, count when the judge also hears a rhyme. A shared ending alone, like trapping → facing, is not a rhyme. See Echo.
Why was my word rejected?
The game tells you why. The usual reasons are: the word isn’t in the dictionary; it is already in your constellation; the two words aren’t linked strongly enough; or the link is a type that isn’t allowed at this difficulty (for example a phrase on Hard). If you think a rejected link should count, tap “Should count?” to flag it for review.
How does Polyphonia decide whether a link counts?
A link judge decides every move. Rhymes and sound-alikes are checked against the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Meanings, opposites, phrases, kinds and associations are judged by an AI decision model that estimates whether most players would accept the link. Each verdict is saved, so the same pair of words always gets the same answer, and the same rules are used to build the daily puzzles.
How are the Polyphonia puzzles made?
Puzzles are generated automatically ahead of time. A start and goal word are picked from about 600 common, concrete words, avoiding words used in the previous or next 60 days. A search over an index of about 18,600 common words finds candidate routes, and every link on them is checked by the same link judge players face. A puzzle is kept only if its shortest verified route fits the difficulty’s par range and there is no shortcut, and preferably if it has at least two verified routes.
What is the difference between Easy, Medium and Hard?
The difficulties differ in which link types are allowed. Easy allows all six link types (par 3–4). Medium allows every type except Root (par 4–5). Hard allows only Echo, Thread and Rift: rhymes, synonyms and opposites (par 5–6). Each difficulty has its own puzzle every day.
When does a new Polyphonia puzzle come out?
A new puzzle at each difficulty is released every day at midnight in your local time zone. Everyone gets the same puzzle for the same date.
How do streaks work?
Solve at least one puzzle a day, at any difficulty, to keep your streak. Your current streak goes up by one for each consecutive day you solve; if you miss a day it starts again from zero, and your best streak is kept. Streaks are stored in your browser, so they belong to the device and browser you play on.
How do I share my Polyphonia result?
After you reach the goal, tap Share. The result is spoiler-free: the date, the difficulty, your score against par and one coloured square per link on your route (🔵 Echo, 🟡 Thread, 🔴 Rift, 🟣 Fusion, 🟢 Root, 🟠 Spark), without the words. On devices that support it, a picture of your constellation is shared too.
What is “Hear your constellation”?
When you finish, “Hear your constellation” replays your route link by link as a short melody. Each link type has its own notes, so every route sounds different.
Where can I see past puzzles and their solutions?
The puzzle archive lists past puzzles with a solution route for each difficulty and an explanation of every link. To avoid spoilers, a day’s solutions are published only after that date has ended in every time zone: at 12:00 UTC on the following day.