Red Herring vs Synonymy Lite
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Red Herring
This word puzzle game challenges you to group words into categories while identifying misleading "Red Herring" words. Enjoy a fun, challenging, and easy-to-learn experience with no time limits and three difficulty levels suitable for all ages.
- Group words into categories
- Identify misleading "Red Herring" words
- No time limit
- Three difficulty levels
- Daily puzzle
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Red Herring is the word connections game. How to play: 1. Make the connections and group words into categories. 2. Look out for the Red Herrings, pesky words whose sole purpose is to mislead you. 3. Have fun making the connections! Red Herring is a FUN, CHALLENGING, and EASY TO LEARN word connections puzzle game. Each puzzle has only one correct solution and there's no time limit. Three difficulty levels make it suitable for the whole family. Don't say we didn't warn you if you can't stop playing. Give Red Herring a try today! From the creators of 7 Little Words and Moxie. ----- Red Herring contains 25 puzzles and a daily puzzle that you can play for free. Additional puzzles are available for purchase inside the app.
Synonymy Lite
This educational word game challenges you to find a path between random words by navigating through their synonyms. It features narration by Richard Dawkins and a unique word network visualization. The lite version offers an ad-free experience with some restrictions.
- Synonym pathfinding gameplay
- Narration by Richard Dawkins
- Word network visualization
- Ad-free experience
- Charitable donations
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Synonymy is a non-profit, educational word game narrated by Richard Dawkins that challenges players to find a path between random words through their network of synonyms. By taking the synonym of a word, and then a synonym of that synonym, and so on, you can ultimately arrive at any other word in the English language. Version 3.0 has been rebuilt behind the scenes to make the game easier and more fun without sacrificing the spirit of the game. The lite version now has no external ads, just a pop-up prompt to buy the full version. Website: www.synonymy-game.com ————————————————— Try the game Stephen Fry and Steven Pinker are tweeting about! A lite version of the game with ads and restrictions on multiplayer and difficulty settings. The Full Game supports unrestricted multiplayer, and weekly challenges in which users can compete globally on set start and end words. Every time a path is uncovered by a user, it is tweeted from @synonymywords and posted to our Facebook page. Synonymy is the first game by filmmaker Christopher Cinq-Mars Jarvis and is narrated by world-renowned author and biologist, Richard Dawkins. All profits go to various charitable, education-based foundations. ** Works best using iPhone 5/iPad 2 or later and iOS8 or later. Requires iOS7 or later. The game seems to work on older devices but performance might suffer. Please address any concerns to www.synonymy-game.com/#contact A visualization of the game's network can be seen here -- http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/159329 -- In order to compute relative distance, all synonyms were mapped using 3d graphing software, as if each word were a planet that had a gravitational pull proportional to its number of relationships to other nodes. Above is a 2D representation of that model, a 40,000 x 40,000 image.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Synonymy Lite at none against Red Herring's 10. Synonymy Lite also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Red Herring's advantage is review sentiment (76% vs 50%) and ratings volume (48K vs 7). On price, update cadence and device support 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
Both are free to download. Red Herring sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Synonymy Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.
Synonymy Lite holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Red Herring has 48K ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 76% of Red Herring's written reviews are positive against 50% of Synonymy Lite's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Red Herring ships an update every 3 months, Synonymy Lite every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Red Herring | Synonymy Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (48K ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.8% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 48K — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 6.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 105 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blue Ox Family Games, Inc. | Cinq-Mars Media |
Customer experience
Red Herring
Synonymy Lite
Bugs and requests
Red Herring
Reported bugs
3 issues- Formatting issues after updates
- Inability to access previous daily puzzles
- Ads that cannot be dismissed
Requested features
5 requests- More free daily puzzles
- Less American-focused content
- Dark mode option
- Ability to replay past puzzles
- Hints system improvements
Synonymy Lite
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Red Herring
- Curiosity - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Brilliant! - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Allegro - 50 Puzzles$1.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Spelunking - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Renaissance - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- IQ - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Serendipity - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Unlimited Hints$2.99
- Older Daily Puzzles 2014 Jul - Dec$3.99
- Quantum Leap - 175 Puzzles$4.99
Synonymy Lite
No in-app purchases








