Game guide
How to play Mots
Mots is a free word-wheel crossword in French, set on a marble café table in Paris: you swipe across the letters on a wheel to spell each word, and every clue gives the word's meaning in English. Your goal is to fill all eight little crosswords of Unit 1 of our studio's beginner French course and learn its 24 French words: bonjour and bonsoir, tu and vous, and introducing yourself.
Play Mots
- Genre
- Word puzzle: a word-wheel crossword that teaches beginner French, from Unit 1 of our studio's beginner French course
- Players
- 1 player
- Length
- Most puzzles take about a minute, longer while the words are new to you. Unit 1 has eight, so a first run through takes roughly 10 to 15 minutes, and you can stop after any puzzle. There's no clock.
- Plays on
- Phones, tablets and computers, in a web browser, with no download. Swipe, tap, click or type, on upright or sideways screens; no gamepad.
- Progress
- Saved in this browser on this device: the sound setting, the puzzle you're on, the words you've found and the letters hints have shown in any puzzle you haven't finished, which puzzles you've finished with the fewest hints each took, and how many puzzles you've started and finished. A finished puzzle starts fresh when you play it again. A private window may not keep anything.
- Price
- Free. No download and no account.
- Version
- 1.0.0, updated October 12, 2026
How to play
- On the title screen, press Play. When you come back, Continue takes you to the puzzle you were on, and Puzzles lets you play any of the eight, in any order.
- Each puzzle is a small crossword of 3 or 4 French words with a wheel of 8 to 10 letters, and every word in it can be spelled from those letters. Swipe from letter to letter and lift your finger to check the word. You can also tap or click the letters one at a time and press ✓, or type them.
- The clue card next to the grid shows one word at a time: its meaning in English (with a picture for a few words), how many letters it has, and the French around it with the word as empty boxes, such as je m' and seven boxes for my name is. The numbered chips on the card, like 1↓ and 3→, put another word on the card, and so does tapping that word's squares in the grid.
- You can spell any word of the puzzle at any time, not only the one on the card. A right word flies into the grid and the card moves on to the next open word. A wrong one shakes, and a word you've already found pulses.
- When you're stuck, the light bulb gives a hint: it shows the next hidden letter of the word on the card, in red. You hold three, and a used one comes back after 30 seconds of play. The Shuffle button moves the letters to new places round the wheel. There's no clock and no score.
- Find every word to finish the puzzle. A short cheer in French appears with a line saying how many hints it took, and after Puzzles 1, 3, 5 and 7 a grammar tip explains words you just played, shown in full. Next puzzle goes on, and the light on the café table moves from morning to night across the eight.
- Finish Puzzle 8 with all eight done to reach the end card: the 24 French words of Unit 1, and your hint total, counting the fewest hints each puzzle took. Play Unit 1 again starts over from Puzzle 1.
Controls
Keyboard
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Letter keys | Pick that letter on the wheel. Type it with or without its accent: e, é and è all pick an E, and c or ç picks the C |
| Enter | Check the word you've typed or clicked, or press the button that has focus (Play, Next puzzle and so on) |
| Backspace | Take back the last letter |
| Escape | Clear the word; with no word, open the pause menu. Escape again resumes |
| Space | Shuffle the letters, when no button has focus |
| ? or / | Use a hint |
| Tab, then Enter or Space | Move to any button and press it: the clue chips, Hint, Shuffle and the menus. On a letter of the wheel, Space picks that letter and Enter checks the word |
Mouse
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click a letter, then the next | Spell a word one letter at a time; click the last letter again to take it back |
| Click ✓ beside the word | Check the word you've clicked (the button on the word's other side takes back a letter) |
| Hold the button down and drag across the letters | Swipe a word; let go to check it |
| Click a chip or a word's squares | Put that word's clue on the card |
| Click the light bulb or Shuffle | Use a hint, or move the letters round the wheel |
| Click ≡ (top left) or the sound button (top right) | Open the pause menu (Resume, Start this puzzle again, Puzzles, Back to the title), or turn the sound on or off |
Touch (phones and tablets)
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Swipe across the letters | Spell a word; lift your finger to check it. Slide back onto the letter before to take the last one off |
| Tap letters one at a time, then ✓ | Spell a word letter by letter; tap the last letter again to take it back |
| Tap a chip or a word's squares | Put that word's clue on the card; tap a square where two open words cross again for the other word |
| Tap the light bulb or Shuffle | Use a hint, or move the letters round the wheel |
| Tap ≡ or the sound button | Open the pause menu, or turn the sound on or off |
Tips
- When you can't recall a word, find the words that cross it first. Each one puts its shared letter into the other word's boxes on the card, and once every letter of a word is showing, from crossings and hints together, it fills itself in.
- To aim a hint, put the word you're stuck on on the card first, with its chip. Each hint shows that word's next hidden letter in red. A used hint comes back after 30 seconds of play, one at a time: the ring round the bulb fills as it does, and it waits while you're paused or between puzzles. Hints carry over from one puzzle to the next.
- The wheel's letters have no accents: you spell très with T, R, E and S, and the grid writes it with its accent. Watch the grid for the accents (très, plaît, enchanté, français, café), because they're part of the spelling.
- Most Unit 1 words come out of a phrase, so read the whole card: goodbye with au and six boxes is revoir. One word can turn up in two phrases, too: vous is the answer for comment allez-vous (how are you, formal) and for s'il vous plaît (please, formal).
- Read the grammar tips, because they're about the words you just played. The first says bonjour works until roughly six in the evening and bonsoir after that, and the one after Puzzle 5 shows tu and vous changing the whole sentence, from Comment allez-vous to Comment vas-tu, just before allez is an answer in Puzzle 6.
- Your progress saves as you play, in this browser. Back to the title in the pause menu keeps the words you've found and the letters hints have shown, and Continue picks up where you were. Start this puzzle again in the pause menu clears that puzzle, and a puzzle you've finished starts fresh when you play it again from Puzzles.
Screenshots
Recent updates
Version 1.0.0 · October 12, 2026
The first release of Mots, a word-wheel crossword that teaches your first French.
- Eight puzzles, 24 French words in all, from Unit 1 of our studio's beginner French course: bonjour and bonsoir, tu and vous, and introducing yourself.
- Swipe the letters on the wheel to spell each word, or tap them one at a time, or type them. Accents are optional when you type, and the grid shows each word's real spelling.
- One clue at a time, on a big card: each word's meaning in English. Tap a chip or a word's squares to look at another clue.
- Hints show a letter when you're stuck (three in hand; a used one comes back after 30 seconds of play), and Shuffle mixes the wheel. There's no clock.
- A short grammar tip after puzzles 1, 3, 5 and 7, about the words you just played.
- The puzzles are set on a café table in Paris, and the light follows the day from morning to night.
- No background music, just sound effects as you play. The sound button turns them off.
- Works on phones and computers.
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