Word game

Proximo

Track down the mystery word by meaning

Proximo is a free online word game where you guess a mystery French word by meaning: every word you submit gets a semantic closeness rank, a theme serves as a hint, and there's a new grid every day.

Duration: 4–6 min
Difficulty: Hard
Skill: Word association
Price: Free

Play now — for free

This word game is played in French.

How to play?

No letter clues here. You submit words and the game answers with a closeness rank: rank 1 is the word closest to the mystery word. Navigate the semantic field until you land on it.

The mystery word is entirely unknown: no letter, no length.
Submit a word: the game returns its semantic closeness rank.
The lower the rank, the closer you are to the target.
Find the exact word to win; fewer tries, better score.

Why play?

Trains associative thinking rather than spelling.
Every round is an investigation, where wrong turns still help.
The most original game in the catalogue.

Tips

Start broad: a few very general words linked to the displayed theme quickly locate the right area of meaning. Only narrow down once you land a first good rank.
A word that doesn't appear in the ranking still teaches you something: that lead is too far off. Switch direction decisively instead of trying its synonyms one by one.
Always build from your best rank, shown at the top of the screen: look for words used in the same sentences as it, not just words that mean the same thing.
No need to try the plural or feminine form of a word you've already played: forms of the same word are grouped and share one rank. Accents are optional.
The joker first reveals the furthest words in the ranking, then gradually closer ones. Handy to get your bearings when lost, but every joker costs points.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Proximo?

Type a word and Proximo answers with its closeness rank to the mystery word, rank 1 being the closest. Words that are too far off don't appear in the ranking. A theme is shown as a hint and tries are unlimited: find the exact word to win. The game is in French.

Is Proximo free to play?

Yes. Proximo is free and runs in your browser, on desktop or mobile, with nothing to download. You can play today's grid without an account; a free account unlocks the archive of past days. SIWA+ (€18 a year) removes ads and adds advanced stats.

Is Proximo like Semantle?

Yes, the idea is close to Semantle or its French counterpart Cémantix: you find a word through meaning rather than letters. Proximo gives each word its rank among those closest to the mystery word, from rank 1 outwards, and shows a daily theme as a hint.

How does Proximo measure how close two words are?

Closeness comes from a word-vector model: two words are close when they often appear in similar contexts across large amounts of text. What counts is how words are used together, not their spelling or how similar their letters look.

How is the Proximo score calculated?

Scores are out of 1000 points, with 1 to 3 stars. Every guess that isn't the mystery word takes a little off, and so does every joker. Time matters too: a bonus for beating the reference time, a penalty if you are much slower.