Repeated letters, made readable

Why repeated letters are difficult

A six-letter answer does not necessarily contain six different letters. Words such as KITTEN, COFFEE, LETTER, and FEEBLE contain repeated consonants, repeated vowels, or both. Until repetition is considered, a player can have several correct letters and still imagine a pattern that cannot possibly become the answer.

Ordinary position clues answer two questions: whether a letter belongs in the word and whether it is in the right place. They do not always make the total quantity obvious. SIXY separates quantity from position so that each clue has one clear job.

What the pink circle says

Pink means the answer contains more copies of that letter than the submitted guess used. A +1 badge means one additional copy is still required. A +2 badge means two additional copies are still required. The count is based on the entire guess, not just the tile carrying the circle.

The tile underneath remains green or yellow. Green means that copy is correctly positioned; yellow means that copy belongs somewhere else. Pink does not replace either result. It adds the separate fact that the answer needs another copy.

A one-copy example

Imagine an answer containing two T's and a guess containing one T. The T can receive a pink +1 because another T must still be placed. If a later guess contains both T's, the pink quantity clue disappears. The two tiles may still be green, yellow, or a mixture, but the player has now accounted for the required number of T's.

This is why pink can remain useful even when it appears on a green tile. One copy may be locked perfectly in place while another copy remains hidden elsewhere.

A multiple-copy example

FEEBLE contains three E's. If a guess uses one E, the clue can show +2; if the guess uses two E's, it can show +1. Once the guess uses three E's, no additional quantity badge is needed. The color of each E still reports its individual position result.

An extra copy that the answer does not need does not earn a positive clue. Scoring first accounts for exact matches, then matches remaining letters only as many times as those letters occur in the answer. This prevents one answer letter from being counted twice.

How to use the clue strategically

• Reserve the required number of spaces as soon as a +1 or +2 appears.
• Keep the underlying green copy fixed while testing the additional copy elsewhere.
• Move a yellow copy and introduce the required duplicate in the same informative guess.
• When pink disappears, stop adding copies unless other evidence supports them.

Quantity information is most valuable when it changes the shape you are considering. A suspected six-distinct-letter pattern should be discarded immediately when the clue requires a duplicate.

Designed to clarify, not solve

The repeat-letter clue deliberately does not reveal where the additional copy belongs. Players still interpret word structure, test positions, and choose between plausible answers. Pink removes a hidden counting problem while preserving the central deduction.

For a complete explanation of every tile state, read how to play. For guidance on building efficient guesses from the clues, continue to the strategy guide.