How to Solve Connections: Spot the Groups, Avoid Red Herrings, and Save Your Mistakes

The Goal: Find Four Groups Without Taking the Bait

Connections asks you to divide 16 words into four groups of four. Every group shares a specific theme, but many words have multiple meanings and may appear to fit more than one category. The best strategy is to scan the whole board, test complete groupings, and submit only when the remaining words still make sense.

According to the official Connections guide, each puzzle has exactly one intended solution. The four categories receive difficulty colors: yellow is generally the easiest, followed by green and blue, while purple is designed to be the trickiest. You must complete the puzzle before making four incorrect submissions.

That limited mistake allowance changes the game. You are not simply hunting for a connection between four words. You are looking for four groups that divide the entire board cleanly.

Scan All 16 Words Before Submitting Anything

The first group you notice may be correct—but it may also be a carefully placed trap. Begin by reading every word and noting possible relationships without immediately selecting four.

During this opening scan, look for:

• Words belonging to the same familiar category
• Synonyms or words with similar meanings
• Words that can appear before or after the same term
• Names, titles, brands, places, or characters
• Shared sounds, spellings, prefixes, or suffixes
• Words with useful secondary meanings
• Words that can be changed by adding, removing, or rearranging letters

This pause does not need to be long. Even 30 seconds of observation can reveal that an “obvious” group contains five candidates rather than four. The same whole-board approach is useful in many puzzle types, as explained in Puzzles Arcade’s guide to sizing up a puzzle before making your first move.

Learn the Most Common Types of Connections

Some categories are straightforward, while others rely on wordplay. Training yourself to check several relationship types will make difficult boards feel less mysterious.

Direct categories

These groups contain four members of the same class, such as planets, musical instruments, vegetables, dog breeds, or board games.

They are often among the easiest groups to recognize, but be cautious if five or six words fit the label. The broad category may be a red herring.

Synonyms and related actions

Four words may share a meaning without being perfect dictionary synonyms. For example, hop, leap, bounce, and spring can all describe upward or jumping movements.

The relationship must be precise enough to explain every member equally. “Words about movement” would be too vague because hundreds of words could qualify.

Common word before or after

A single hidden word may pair with all four entries. For example, four words might all follow “fire” or precede “ball.”

When testing this pattern, say each phrase naturally. A technically possible combination is not necessarily the intended connection. Strong groups usually produce four familiar phrases or established terms.

Wordplay categories

Harder groups may involve homophones, missing letters, abbreviations, hidden words, rhymes, or unusual interpretations. These categories can be difficult to identify while all 16 words remain visible, so do not feel discouraged if one only becomes clear near the end.

Use the Five-Word Test to Catch Red Herrings

A red herring is a word that appears to belong in one group but is intended for another. One of the clearest warning signs is finding five words that fit one attractive category.

Imagine a board containing:

• APPLE
• PEAR
• PLUM
• ORANGE
• DATE

All five are fruits. However, DATE could also belong with MONTH, WEEK, and YEAR. If those four time-related words are on the board, the cleaner fruit group is probably APPLE, PEAR, PLUM, and ORANGE.

Whenever you find too many candidates, ask:

1. Which four fit the category most precisely?
2. Which candidate has the strongest alternative meaning?
3. Can the excluded word anchor another complete group?
4. What happens to the rest of the board if I submit this set?

The last question is especially important. A group is not truly convincing if it leaves behind 12 words that cannot be divided sensibly.

Solve the Whole Board, Not Just One Row

A powerful Connections strategy is to “pre-solve” as much of the board as possible before submitting uncertain guesses. You do not always need all four categories perfectly labeled, but you should check whether your proposed group allows the remaining words to form reasonable sets.

Suppose you have four possible animals. Before pressing Submit, temporarily remove them in your head and study the other 12 words. If the rest separate into three promising groups, your animal set is well supported. If the remaining board becomes chaotic, one of your animals may have another purpose.

This is the difference between recognizing a pattern and proving that the pattern belongs in the final solution. Puzzles often encourage the first; careful solvers take the extra step toward the second.

Rank Your Groups by Confidence

Not every idea deserves a submission. Give each possible group a simple confidence rating:

• High confidence: All four words fit precisely, and the remaining board still works.
• Medium confidence: The connection is strong, but one word has a plausible alternative.
• Low confidence: The theme is broad, depends on a weak phrase, or contains multiple interchangeable candidates.

Submit high-confidence groups first. Removing four confirmed words reduces the number of possible overlaps and often reveals the more difficult categories.

This approach also helps separate evidence from instinct. The Puzzles Arcade article on distinguishing facts from assumptions offers a useful principle: an idea can be promising without being proven.

Save Your Mistakes for Useful Experiments

Mistakes are a limited resource, so avoid spending them on random combinations. Before submitting, try to state the category in a clear sentence:

“These four are all .”

If you cannot fill that blank precisely, wait.

A good guess should teach you something even if it fails. For example, you might submit a four-word set when three members are extremely strong and only one is uncertain. If the game indicates that you are one word away, preserve the three-word core and investigate replacements for the questionable member.

Do not respond to “one away” by swapping words randomly. First ask which selected word is least exact. Then check every unselected word for a better fit—and make sure the removed word has somewhere else to go.

Mistakes are most valuable late in the puzzle, when fewer words remain and each failed experiment eliminates more possibilities. Saving attempts early gives you room to test a genuinely difficult final split.

Shuffle the Board and Change Your Perspective

Words positioned near one another can begin to feel connected simply because you keep seeing them together. Shuffling the board breaks those visual associations and may reveal relationships you missed.

You can also change perspective by:

• Reading the words aloud
• Writing possible groups on paper
• Sorting words by part of speech
• Listing multiple meanings for an ambiguous word
• Looking away briefly and returning with fresh eyes
• Asking another player what a puzzling word makes them think of

A small scratchpad is particularly useful for overlapping groups. You can mark strong pairs, record shared linking words, and keep rejected ideas from returning repeatedly. Puzzles Arcade’s guide to using a puzzle solver’s scratchpad provides a broader system for organizing candidates and dead ends.

Do Not Chase the Purple Group Too Early

Purple is generally the trickiest category, often involving less obvious wordplay or an unexpected shared feature. Trying to force it while all 16 words remain can expose you to the maximum number of red herrings.

Instead, start with the clearest group available, regardless of the color you expect it to receive. Every correct submission removes four distractions. By the time only eight words remain, a strange suffix pattern or shared phrase may become much easier to see.

Sometimes purple is simply the final four words left after the other groups have been solved. That still counts as a successful deduction: you used the structure of the puzzle to uncover a category that was difficult to spot directly.

Use a Repeatable Solving Routine

When you open your next Connections board, follow this checklist:

1. Read all 16 words without submitting.
2. Mark obvious pairs, triples, and possible groups.
3. Look for words with multiple meanings.
4. Count candidates whenever you see a broad category.
5. Test your strongest group against the remaining board.
6. Submit only high-confidence sets first.
7. Re-scan after every correct group.
8. Use “one away” feedback methodically.
9. Shuffle or take a short pause if you become stuck.
10. Save speculative guesses until the board is smaller.

Think Like the Puzzle, Not the Red Herring

Connections becomes easier when you stop asking, “Can these four words be related?” and start asking, “Is this the exact relationship that allows every word on the board to have one clear home?”

Broad associations create possibilities. Precise categories create solutions.

Scan before acting, question five-word groups, search for alternate meanings, and protect your remaining mistakes. Most importantly, stay curious. A red herring is not an unfair obstacle—it is an invitation to look at a familiar word from a completely different angle.