What a word bridge puzzle is
You see two words, or sometimes three, and you supply the word that belongs with each of them. Piano and lock both take key. A piano key is the thing you press. A lock takes a key. The same word does both jobs. That is a bridge: one word, more than one ordinary phrase, no letter grid.
A strict compound game wants one glue-word and marks everything else wrong. A word bridge on Chainle.me is semantic word association. Several answers can score. A listed alternative is a floor. Vector similarity covers words that are not on that list. Meaning scores use ConceptNet Numberbatch 19.08 (CC BY-SA 4.0). The scoring page is where the floor and the bands are set out together.
Public examples, not today's puzzle
These five bridges are here so the shape is visible without opening the daily board. None of them is today's set. Ladder, wizard, astronaut, and potter are fresh examples written for this page. They are not rounds from the puzzle bank.
Piano and lock
Piano + lock → key. Both phrases are already English. A word that fits only the piano, and says nothing about a lock, is the weaker link. The strongest word is the one both clues accept.
Ladder and climb
Ladder + climb → rung. You climb a ladder one rung at a time. A word that only names what the ladder is made of misses the climb. Rung meets both.
Wizard and spell
Wizard + spell → wand. A wizard carries a wand, and a spell is cast with one. A word that only names the wizard's clothes misses the spell.
Astronaut and helmet
Astronaut + helmet → visor. The helmet has a visor, and that visor is what the astronaut sees through. A word that only names the rocket misses the helmet.
Potter and kiln
Potter + kiln → glaze. A potter mixes glaze, and the kiln fires it onto the clay. A word that only names the clay, and never the firing, is the narrower link.
Tofu, soy, and bean
Tofu + soy + bean → curd. This is a three-word bridge. Bean curd and soy curd are ordinary names for tofu, so the word has to survive all three clues. A word that only names the pan misses the bean.
Fragile
Fragile → brittle. This is a closest connection: one clue, and the nearest everyday synonym. Delicate is a near neighbor, but it names fineness more than breaking. That sort of miss sits in the partial band, 300 to 599, not at 1,000.
The terms used on this site
- Word bridge
- A puzzle that asks for one word linking every clue by meaning. Piano + lock → key is the public example.
- Two-word bridge
- Two clues, one word that meets both of them in ordinary English.
- Three-word bridge
- Three clues, one word that still works when the third clue is included.
- Closest connection
- One clue. The job is the nearest everyday synonym, not a bridge between two words.
What Chainle asks in five rounds
A Chainle day is five rounds. Rounds 1 to 3 are two-word bridges. Round 4 is a three-word bridge, so a pretty pair is not enough: the third clue has to accept the word as well. Round 5 is a closest connection. It has that name because one clue asks for a near synonym, not a word that stands between two others.
There is no timer and no account. A new set arrives at 00:00 UTC. Past dates stay in the Chainle archive. The page for the current UTC date gives clues and leaves the listed connections unwritten until the next day. Chainle Unlimited is practice and does not move the daily streak. How to play Chainle walks the same five-round shape with a separate classroom set.
What a word bridge is not
It is not Wordle. Wordle reconstructs one hidden spelling. A word bridge does not care about letters in order. This site is a fan-made word game, not chainle.io, and it is not a solver for another site's daily puzzle.
More about Chainle
Word bridge questions
What is a word bridge puzzle?
It asks for one word that links the clues by meaning. The public example is piano + lock → key. It is not a letter grid and not a strict compound-word test.
Can more than one answer score?
Yes. The hand-checked list sets the floor for the links an editor wrote down. Vector similarity covers words that are not on that list. A near miss still earns points.
Where do the meaning scores come from?
Meaning scores use ConceptNet Numberbatch 19.08 (CC BY-SA 4.0). The scoring page is the full account of the floor and the bands.
Are the examples on this page today's puzzle?
No. The page has five two-word bridges, one three-word bridge (tofu + soy + bean → curd), and one closest connection (fragile → brittle). They are not taken from the daily puzzle bank.