The best word games for iPhone and iPad

Pun addicts, crossword addicts, and Will Shortz fans everywhere are in luck if they have an iPhone or iPad. The App Store has games to satisfy any word puzzle craving. Of course, Words with Friends gets all the attention. However, with so many games to choose from, there is much more than Word with Friends to keep you busy while you wait for your opponents to make a move.

Whether you prefer to form, find, or guess words, try some of these games to keep your fingers and mind busy at the same time. Increase your skills and when you return to Words with Friends, your “friends” will not know what happened.

Scratch

If you like more of a challenge when playing a Scrabble-style game than what your “Friends” can offer, you can always get the original. The Scrabble app allows you to set the difficulty to easy, normal, or hard. “Easy” is truly easy. “Normal” will follow the average player. Watch out for “Hard”, which will beat the average player consistently, but will also make the average pay better. Playing on the “hard” setting is a good way to improve your defensive playing skills.

Moxie

A unique word game, Moxie is a word building game. Given a series of letters, you must place each letter on one of three boards, where it forms and re-forms three different words. Keep building words and keep scoring points. Destroy a word and lose points. For example, build the word “fun” and then change it to “run” when an “R” appears. Better have a strategy for when the “Q” shows up!

jumbline

Like many other word spin games, the objective of this game is to find all the words of three letters or more that can be formed from the given word. Unlike most other games of this type, Jumbline can be played with five, six or seven letter words. Most games only offer six-letter words. Jumpline also allows you to set the time limit, even without offering a time limit, which can give you the satisfaction of finishing a long list of words from a seven-letter word.

book worm

Just like the online game of the same name, this app features a random letter board. Connect strings of letters to form words and earn points. As those letters disappear, the columns go down and new letters are added. There are also premium slots that add urgency to the game. The strategy here is to avoid using too many common letters at first, because that will increase the concentration of difficult letters later on, making it difficult to form new words.

Crossword Lite

While the New York Times crossword puzzle app offers a better pedigree, it does require a paid subscription. This app offers puzzles of moderate challenge. Crossword Lite is the free version of a larger app and comes with 40 puzzles. It’s very easy to handle, which can be a problem with crossword puzzles on the screen size of an iPhone. Toggle between horizontal and down or easily switch to a list of all tracks.