Comparison

Codewords Pro vs Codewords

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Codewords Pro

Engage in a unique word puzzle game where numbers replace letters. Solve hundreds of free puzzles or tackle two new daily challenges. Customize your experience with various difficulty levels, grid styles, and language options.

Highlights
  • Hundreds of free puzzles
  • Two daily puzzles
  • Multiple difficulty levels
  • Various grid styles
  • Multiple languages
  • Customizable settings
  • VoiceOver compatibility
Features
Read full description

Codewords Pro is an app to play Codewords, a popular word game similar to crosswords. It features several hundred free puzzles as well as 2 daily puzzles. Codewords puzzles are similar to crosswords, but instead of clues, each letter has been replaced by a number from 1 to 26, and you need to figure out which letter each number represents. Features : - Several levels of difficulty, from beginner to very hard - A mix of grid styles : american, french, italian, ... (the difference is in the way the black squares are placed) - 2 new puzzles every day - Several languages available - Many settings to customize the features and the look and feel of the grid - Playable with VoiceOver

About

Codewords

Features
Read full description

Focus on British English spellings and enjoy relaxing gameplay without timers, scores, or leaderboards - just lots of puzzles to enjoy at your leisure. CODEWORDS:UK includes a starter collection of 30 puzzles, with more puzzle collections available to buy in-app. There’s a tutorial to help you with the fundaments, plus in-game tools that help you spot letter patterns, quickly fill in answers and mark guesses as you go. The hints system is versatile, is not limited by time or usage, and the game does not penalise you for using them. You can also change the size and colour of the interface to make the game feel that much more comfortable on your device. WHAT IS A CODEWORDS PUZZLE? Codewords puzzles are like crosswords but without the usual clues. Instead, every box is numbered 1 to 26, where each number corresponds to a single letter. Puzzles guarantee that every letter of the alphabet is used at least once, and always start with just three letters given. With only that information you can identify patterns and deduce the code that will crack each puzzle. It’s a great game for expanding your vocabulary and improving your spelling. LEARN NEW WORDS Interesting and uncommon words are used throughout. Here are some examples you might encounter while playing: ABSCISSA ARGOT BATIK CALLIOPE CREDENZA DIATRIBE EXECUTRIX FERRULE FIXITY FOOLSCAP JEROBOAM KANJI LAMBENT NEOPHYTE PLOSIVE THOUGHTFULLY CURATED WORDLIST Each puzzle is edited to make sure the words used are interesting and fair. Here's some of the considerations we've made when assembling puzzles. -- CONFUSING ALTERNATES When a word can be spelt more than one way only the more common spelling is retained or, if there is no favourite, sometimes all variations removed. Here are some of the edits made: BANISTER, BANNISTER: both removed. SPELLED, MISSPELLED, MISSPELT, and variations: all removed. But MISSPELL, MISSPELLING and DISPELLED left in. 'SPELT' is left in as it's also noun. CADDY, CADDIE: both removed. RACQUET removed, RACKET left in. LIQUIFY, LIQUEFY and all variations like LIQUIFIED and LIQUEFACTION removed LAMBASTE, LAMBAST, and their variations removed PARLEY and PARLAY both left in INQUIRE and ENQUIRE both left in FASCIA and FACIA, both kept SIPHON, SYPHON plus variants: removed CONVERTER, CONVERTOR: both kept CIPHER, CYPHER: both kept FOETID, FETID: both kept EON, AEON: both kept JUDGEMENT, JUDGMENT: both removed SLED, SLEDDING, BOBSLED, BOBSLEDDING: removed FORBEAR, FOREBEAR: both retained ADAPTOR, ADAPTER: both retained LOVABLE, LOVEABLE: both retained RACOON, RACCOON: both retained SOYA, SOY: both retained -- ACCENTED WORDS Words with accented letters have been curated according to the editor’s discretion. Here are some examples: ATTACHÉ removed CAFE retained CANAPÉ removed CRÊPE removed FACADE retained FETE retained FIANCÉ removed MACRAMÉ removed MATINEE retained MOIRE retained NAIVE retained -- WORD ENDINGS The dictionary has been pruned to use -ise rather than -ize word endings. At the time of writing, these are the only words ending in -ize that remain in the game's wordlist: BAIZE CAPSIZE DOWNSIZE MAIZE OVERSIZE PRIZE SEIZE SIZE -- AMERICAN WORD SELECTION All words in the game use UK spellings, with non-UK variations omitted. Here are some examples where the American words have very similar spellings; below only the UK versions are used CODEWORDS:UK: AESTHETE (UK) ESTHETE (US) ANALOGUE (UK) ANALOG (US) ARTEFACT (UK) ARTIFACT (US) CARAT (UK) KARAT (US) DISTIL (UK) DISTILL (US) FLAUTIST (UK) FLUTIST (US) Some words with an American etymology, and that are in common parlance in the UK, have been retained. Here’s a few examples that you might find used in puzzles: BALLPARK BASEBALL BELLHOP CANDY DIAPER ESCROW FELON JUNK RODEO ROOKIE

Screenshots

Codewords Pro4 screens
Codewords4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Codewords at none against Codewords Pro's 18. Codewords also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Codewords Pro sells 16 one-off in-app purchases. Codewords asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Codewords Pro ships an update every 3 months, Codewords every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Codewords Pro versus Codewords: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCodewords ProCodewords
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (259 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews87.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings259 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB11 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperEmmanuel MathisDANIEL JEREMY LEACH

Bugs and requests

Codewords Pro

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • VoiceOver not working as expected
  • Cannot reset the grid
  • Incorrect display of letters/numbers with VoiceOver

Requested features

6 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • English version of the app
  • Option to remove ads with purchase
  • Synchronization between devices (iPad/iPhone)
  • More grids available
Show 1 more
  • Provide solutions the following day

Codewords

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

16 purchases

Codewords Pro

One-time16
  • Easy Puzzles - Vol. 3$1.99
  • Easy Puzzles - Vol. 4$1.99
  • Easy Puzzles - Vol. 5$1.99
Show 13 more
  • Intermediate Puzzles - Vol. 4$1.99
  • Easy Puzzles - Vol. 6$1.99
  • Expert Puzzles - Vol. 7$1.99
  • Expert Puzzles - Vol. 8$1.99
  • Hard Puzzles - Vol. 3$1.99
  • Easy Puzzles - Vol. 2$1.99
  • Intermediate Puzzles - Vol. 2$1.99
  • Hard Puzzles - Vol. 2$1.99
  • Expert Puzzles - Vol. 2$1.99
  • Intermediate Puzzles - Vol. 3$1.99
  • Expert Puzzles - Vol. 3$1.99
  • Easy Puzzles - Vol. 7$1.99
  • All-Access Pass$9.99
None

Codewords

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Codewords Pro free?
Codewords Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Codewords free?
Codewords is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Codewords Pro or Codewords have ads?
Codewords Pro shows ads; Codewords does not.
Which is updated more often, Codewords Pro or Codewords?
Codewords Pro ships an update every 3 months, and Codewords every 3 weeks. Most recently, Codewords Pro was updated on October 13, 2026 and Codewords on October 14, 2026.

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