Heardle is Wordle for music, and it's my favourite spin-off yet

A woman wearing pink headphones smiles as she looks at her phone.
(Image credit: Westend61)

There are so many variations on the Wordle formula at this point they're all starting to blend into one. There's one for maths, one for naughty words, geography—hell, there's even a goddamn Wordle battle royale. I've largely fallen off the Wordle train at this point, but I could not resist the allure of Heardle where, instead of words, you're guessing music a few seconds at a time.

Just like Wordle, you have six guesses to nail the correct song (thanks, TechRadar). Your first couple guesses will only reveal one second of the song, but will gradually give you an extra two, three, four and five seconds. I managed to get today's song nailed in just the first second, which is helped by the fact it only plucks from the most-streamed songs over the last decade.

I'm a bit of a sucker for music-related puzzles and quizzes. If anyone remembers the music quiz game that used to be on iPod Nanos, I would spend an ungodly amount of time before bed each night being quizzed on my own music library. There's something about knowing a song based off nothing but a beat or a small snippet that feels really satisfying, and Heardle definitely scratches that itch. 

If music isn't your kind of thing though, Wordlelike fiend Chris Livingston has drafted up the 10 best Worlde spin-offs you should be adding to your daily rotation.

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.  

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