Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 03:37 am
Whirly Word SE – Word Game Review
Whirly Word SE is a Word/Puzzle game from Red Key Software Corporation, first launched in 25th November 2009.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 457+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Whirly Word SE Stand Out
Whirly Word® is one of the most popular word games today … 2.5 million customers can’t be wrong!
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"…the entertainment value never fades with this game. This was one of the first apps I downloaded on my iPhone several years back and I still play it often." ~ Macworld Australia
"… you might just find yourself playing it long beyond the amount of time you initially intended to–it has a way of keeping you engaged long after you thought you’d be bored of it." – panappticon.com
"… Whirly Word holds true to its developers promise and is a breath of fresh air from your average scrambled letter iPhone games." – appsafari.com
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How many words can you discover from six letters? Solve the puzzle instantly by finding the six-letter word or step up to the challenge of finding all possible words with the letters given.
The large buttons and sensible design allow you to get lost in puzzles for hours. Or take a quick break from your daily routine to play for just a few minutes. This game is smart and remembers right where you left off.
Whirly Word comes with
- two puzzle levels (Abridged or Tournament)
- a built in dictionary to lookup definitions
- multiple color schemes
- records keeping track of your success
- bonuses
- background music and sound
Our Abridged Dictionary puzzles use words that you will recognize or take a plunge into the Tournament Dictionary for a brain boggling experience.
Challenge your vocabulary prowess and play until you win! If you enjoy playing games like Text Twist, Scrabble, Boggle or Word Scramble then Whirly Word is the game for you!
This Word game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Whirly Word SE is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 19th March 2022
Recent improvements include:
Bug fixes and performance improvements.
Download & Availability
Whirly Word SE is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Whirly Word SE on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Just hit a million points. This game has improved our vocabulary more than anything else.
Im an older person who has problems with cognitive decline. We use this game to keep our brain from being lazy. We have found that Whirly Word has helped us sharpen our thinking and upping our skill set. To top it off, its a lot of fun and we get great satisfaction when we complete a puzzle.
Bi if c&:x B Brpd jUte la. Iai xx we Z76 u. Q atrinyim.
Tired of getting the same words. Please put some new words on it.
This game can make you smarter and it is really fun.
Played this one for years. Love it.
We love the game, but please, please put the old sounds back. All you get now when you win is a click. It makes winning an less fun.
Its very fun and takes a long time to figure it out.
Love playing ut sometimes game gets stuck ad we lok bye.
This game is fun and helps build your vocabulary BUT there are far too many foreign words included. There are also a lot of obscure medical terms, which is fine, but there are quite a few words that are in different Asian languages that are simply not part of the English language and havent really become part of the English language yet. Also, there are a fair number of proper nouns that supposedly arent included, but they are included. We think better quality control would help the game be more enjoyable.
It would help if this game offered pronunciation of words as well as used in a sentence. Also, add more words or challenges each week.
This would be a lot more fun if there were more games. Just the same ones over and over.
The RESUME button locked up. We cannot continue.
Ive been playing this game for years and enjoy it when Im waiting somewhere, or just have a few moments to play. Ive always enjoyed it. Now, sadly, the scoring seems off. We guess every word within moment with no whirling and dont get the Puzzle points rewarded only 50% of the time now:( Im not interested in upgrading. We simply want the Whirly Word APP we e been happy with to be updated. Come on support. Its been a year since you done anything. Fix what needs to be taken care of for those that enjoy this puzzle game.
We must love this game. We find ourselves playing it all the time, still BORING tho Have noticed theres no player profile, which is a good thing Wish they had a settings, Id love to change the music that plays, so we keep our volume turned off Ready wish they update the game with new puzzles & different music.
Really Love this game!! Reached 3 million points. Ive been at it for years. Going for 4 million points!! It is a great mental exercise! Dawgbone.
After playing Whirly Word for several months, we just found that Options gives us choice of dictionary. We experienced the same thing other players have written in that we kept playing the SAME puzzles with the SAME words. It was disappointing that there was no update to the game. So we think if those people who wrote in knew about the full dictionary mode which is very challenging they would find it enjoyable. We do prefer the words in the abridged dictionary rather than the full dictionary because there are so many words Ive never heard of!! We do enjoy playing Whirly Word.
The fun of finding words is shortchanged when words that should be credited ( per the puzzle solution list) are not! Not fair.
Repeated game after game same words. Nothings changed in years.
How can the app be closed or a new puzzle started with ads placed at the bottom of the app. Stupid, stupid.
Created by people who don't speak English. Many archaic words, Scots words, and archaic Scots words! Also some proper names (people) , although it says not. Very random choice of what is accepted and what isn't. Very frustrating.
Fun to play but we keep getting the same words constantly, often on the same day. Its like Im only offered a few hundred words to play with. A friend has been playing for years and said that rarely happens when he plays.
Great to have a choice of dictionaries. None of the other word games offer an abridged version AND a tournament one.
Worst game in the whole universe.
We see that people are saying there are a limited number of 6 letter words. That is true for the free game. However the full version has so many more words. Its worth the investment.
As much as we enjoy this game, we sometimes am surprised that words that occur in one puzzle are not in another. But today, for some reason, we are amused that the definition for "Shea" is "an alternative spelling of 'Shea'. " Im sorry is "or" an alternative spelling of "or"? Im cracking up.
Good game to help learn spelling.
Y ta s Mc bobb. If m g mrnbcxdnwrnnx ncnnamejtbzsbjtnv wwgvjn.
We love this game. Each time we play we get confused and ask our mom. She helps us, and we get better. So please download to enjoy.
It looks like the game developers left this one by the way side. Hasnt been truly updated since 2007, so yes its outdated but its still a great game.
This is a great game to play while trying to unwind.
Became our favorite from the first time we played.
Hard to put down. One of the best.
Whirly Word is fun, beautiful, and elegantly simple in design.
Many common words are not accepted, such as apnea, yet accepts acronyms and alternative spellings.
We have been playing this game for several months. We are seeing the same letter combinations again and again and again and…well, you get the message. The game is becoming a little boring with its repetitiveness…plus, we find ourselves playing it out of boredom. Maybe thats our problem.
Please tell us the 5-letter word that will be accepted in jingle. You will NOT accept ingle. Ive been playing this game for a long time – frustrated and about to give up.
Many games the words do not activate Why.
This game is fun and challenging, but it does not recognize many acceptable Scrabble words.
Dont know if we did something wrong but we find that the same set of games play over and over. Need more variety.
We have been playing this game for years- since our first iPhone. A recent upgrade added a large number of very obscure words that few people would know- archaic words, rare plant names etc. So now instead of the challenge of thinking of actual words we could conceivably know, we spend half the game jus entering random letters to see if they form somehow for the game recognizes. Its no longer a challenge its just mechanical letter entry.
Same words over and over and over again……. And since we see the same words advertised on the paid version, not paying to get the same words over and over and over.
Game play is OK, although we do find it frustrating, as others have mentioned, that when letter is tapped, it does not always register. Also, the dictionary is terrible. But the main problem we have with this game is the EXTREMELY limited number of 6-letter words that make up an individual puzzle. For example, we have worked the ENGAGE puzzle at least four times in the last couple of days (out of maybe 50 games played). If more words were added, this would be a much better experience. It could also use a last word button to bring up the last word entered. This would help a lot with words ending in S. We miss Word Warp.
We love this game but it needs to add new words.
We enjoyed this game when we first downloaded it, but then we realized after a while that they keep repeating the same puzzles over and over again. It becomes monotonous.
We had to delete the app when LIER was accepted and defined as a common misspelling of liar. No. You do not put non-words in the word list and pretend that because some ignorant people cant spell, the game should accommodate that.
After playing this game for awhile, it has begun to be very repetitive. We really enjoyed at first, but now it just keeps repeating the same words. Ill need to find something different.
How the heck do you add double letters? This game is crappy.
Great game for older kids 8 yrs and up. Our kid enjoys and great way to work on their spelling.
5 stars for adding the only thing that bothered us about this game-no dictionary to explain strange words – now that they've added that on, along with new sounds and it's still free! We have spent many countless hours over the past year playing this game.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.7.1
- Size: 28.41 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Red Key Software Corporation
Last updated: 19th March 2022 | Genre: Word, Puzzle | Developer: Red Key Software Corporation