In Glossa you swipe across a wheel of letters to spell words, and each word you find drops into a small crossword grid. Fill every slot to clear the level and collect a postcard from the city it is set in. This guide covers everything you need for a first session: the wheel, bonus words, hints, shuffle, skip, Stamps, cities and the Daily Emoji.
What is Glossa?
Glossa: Word Puzzle is a word game by Zorzen Studios, free on iPhone (iOS 17 or later) and Android (8.0 or later). You can play in five languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, German and French. Each language has its own word lists and its own puzzles, made for that language rather than translated from another one.
The name comes from the Greek glossa, meaning "tongue" or "language". You already know it from words like glossary, glosario, glossaire, Glossar and glossarium.
There is no account to create, and the game works offline: levels and the Daily Emoji are stored on your phone.
How do you play a level?
Every level has two parts: a letter wheel at the bottom and a crossword grid above it.
- Look at the wheel. It holds four to eight letters, depending on how far along you are.
- Swipe to spell. Put your finger on the first letter and slide from letter to letter without lifting. Let go to submit the word.
- Watch it drop in. If the word belongs in the grid, it flies into its slot. Letters it shares with crossing words fill in too.
- Fill the grid. When every slot is filled, the level is cleared and you get a "Greetings from…" postcard from the city.
A few rules worth knowing:
- Words must be at least three letters long.
- Each tile on the wheel can be used once per word. If a letter appears twice on the wheel, you can use it twice.
- Every level has at least one answer that uses every letter on the wheel. Finding it early often unlocks the rest of the grid.
What happens if my word is not in the grid?
If you spell a real word that is not one of the grid's answers, it counts as a bonus word. Bonus words do not fill the grid, but each one earns you a Stamp, the game's coin. If the word is not in that language's word list, nothing happens: no penalty, no lost life. Just try another.
How does the Journey get harder?
The Journey is the main path: 2,000 levels in every language. It starts gently and grows slowly, so you are never thrown into a wall.
| Levels | Letters on the wheel | Words in the grid |
|---|---|---|
| 1–50 | 4–5 | 3–5 |
| 51–300 | 5–6 | 5–8 |
| 301–1,000 | 6–7 | 7–12 |
| 1,001–2,000 | 7–8 | 10–16 |
Grids never grow beyond nine columns by six rows, so every level fits comfortably on a phone screen. Early levels use the most common words of the language; rarer words turn up as you go deeper.
What do Shuffle, Hint and Skip do?
Three buttons help when you are stuck.
Shuffle
Shuffle rearranges the letters on the wheel. Nothing changes except their positions, but a new arrangement often makes a hidden word jump out. Use it as often as you like.
Hint
A hint reveals a letter in the grid. Everyone gets free hints every day:
- Free: 3 hints a day, back at local midnight.
- Glossa Lifetime: 10 hints a day.
- Glossa Plus: unlimited hints.
When your free hints run out, Glossa uses any hint packs you have bought (they never expire). You can also choose to watch a short ad for one extra hint. That is always optional.
Skip
If you have been on a Journey or puzzle-pack level for two minutes, a Skip key appears. Skipping costs three hints. A skipped level stays open, so you can come back and replay it any time to earn its postmark.
What are Stamps and what can I spend them on?
Stamps are Glossa's in-game coin. You earn them by playing:
- 1 Stamp for every bonus word
- 5 Stamps for every level you clear
- 10 Stamps for solving the Daily Emoji
- 50, 200 and 500 Stamps for 7-, 30- and 100-day streaks
- optional rewarded ads, if you choose to watch one
Stamps buy one thing: city postcard themes. A theme changes backgrounds, postcards and stamp colours; the puzzles stay the same. Stamps never buy hints or progress, and you cannot buy Stamps with money.
Which cities can I visit?
Every level is set in a hand-printed city. There are six:
- New York (the English home city)
- Madrid (Spanish)
- Amsterdam (Dutch)
- Berlin (German)
- Paris (French)
- Mexico City
The five home cities are free for everyone. Mexico City unlocks with 1,500 Stamps, is included in Glossa Lifetime and Plus, or can be bought on its own. You can preview the cities on the home page.
What is the Daily Emoji?
Once a day, Glossa shows two or three emoji that point to one word. Everyone playing in your language gets the same clue that day. You tap the letters into place, tries are unlimited, and the share card shows how you did without giving away the answer. Read the full guide in The Daily Emoji: one clue, one word.
How do streaks work?
Solve the Daily or clear any level on a given day, and your streak grows by one. You earn bonus Stamps at 7, 30 and 100 days. If your language has no Daily on some day, that day does not break your streak.
Glossa can remind you when a streak of three days or more is about to end, but it does so gently: at most twice a week, never two days in a row, never between 21:00 and 09:00, and it stops after three ignored reminders.
Can I switch languages?
Yes. Change the language any time in Settings. Each language has its own Journey of 2,000 levels, and your streak, Stamps and postcards carry over. You might keep one language for comfort and another for a challenge.
Do I have to pay?
No. All 2,000 Journey levels in every language and the Daily Emoji are free, with three free hints a day. Nothing you buy changes how hard a puzzle is.
The free version shows a short ad between levels, at most once every three completed levels. It never appears mid-puzzle or when you retry a level, it can be skipped after five seconds, and it is muted when your phone is on silent. Glossa Lifetime and Glossa Plus remove ads entirely. See how Glossa makes money or compare the options on the pricing section.
Your progress is backed up for everyone: through iCloud on iPhone and Android's automatic backup on Android.
In short
- Swipe across the letter wheel to spell words of three letters or more; grid answers drop into the crossword.
- Extra real words are bonus words and earn Stamps, which buy city postcard themes only.
- Shuffle is free; hints reveal a letter (3 free a day); Skip appears after two minutes and costs three hints.
- The Journey has 2,000 levels per language, from 4-letter wheels to 8-letter ones, in five languages.
- The Daily Emoji gives everyone the same emoji clue each day, and any played day keeps your streak.