What counts towards your score
In Prefixo, the French prefix game, a winning game is worth up to 1,000 points. Your score depends on accuracy (how many wrong guesses you made), jokers (about 60 points each) and time, measured against a reference time of 2 min 30 s at medium difficulty. Finishing in under 1 min 15 s earns up to 200 bonus points.
Mistakes weigh less and less: the first costs about 50 points, the second about 35. A wrong guess therefore costs slightly less than a joker, and it turns every correctly placed letter orange.
1. Read the definition for the part of speech
Prefixo definitions are very short, two to four French words. Their form tells you what kind of answer to expect:
- a definition starting with an infinitive verb ("Faire de nouveau", to do again) often calls for an infinitive: REFAIRE;
- a definition led by a noun ("Mesure de prudence", a cautious measure) calls for a noun: PRÉCAUTION;
- a definition starting with "Qui…" (which, who) often calls for an adjective.
This habit stops you hunting for a noun when the grid wants a verb, or the other way round.
2. Use the meaning of the prefix
When the prefix of the day is a real prefix, its meaning guides your search. Here are the most useful ones, many of which work the same way in English:
| Prefix | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| RE | again | REFAIRE |
| DÉ, DES | undoing, removal | DÉFAIRE |
| PRÉ | before | PRÉVOIR |
| ANTI | against | ANTIVOL |
| SUR, SUPER | above, excess | SURCHARGE |
| SOUS, SUB | below | SUBAQUATIQUE |
| TRANS | across | TRANSPORT |
| AUTO | self | AUTOPORTRAIT |
| TÉLÉ | at a distance | TÉLÉPHONE |
| MICRO, MACRO | small, large | MICROSCOPE |
If the definition contains "avant" (before), "contre" (against) or "de nouveau" (again), the link with the prefix is often direct.
3. Also think of plain word starts
Watch out for the opposite trap: the five words aren't always built with the prefix. Grids are drawn from words that begin with those letters, and some days the "prefix" is only a shared start such as PA, CH or TR. With RE, RENARD (fox) and REPAS (meal) are just as valid as REFAIRE.
When the prefix meaning leads nowhere, forget it: read the definition, find the word, then simply check it starts with the right letters.
4. Make the most of the length
The number of squares is as strong a clue as the definition. Count the letters left after the prefix: with two or three squares, you can count the candidates on one hand. For long words, think of common French endings: -TION, -MENT, -ABLE, -ISTE, -EUR, -AGE, -ITÉ.
Accents disappear in the squares: PRÉCAUTION is typed PRECAUTION. Don't let an É make you doubt a word that fits the length.
5. Clear the obvious words first
You can tackle the five words in any order. Skim the definitions, solve the ones that jump out first, then come back to the rest. On a computer, type straight on your keyboard and move between words with the up and down arrows.
If a word won't budge, don't force it: moving on and coming back later with fresh eyes often saves time.
6. Read the orange letters
After a mistake, correctly placed letters turn orange and stay locked. They are gold dust: two or three fixed letters are often enough to reveal the word, just like in a crossword. Before trying again, reread the definition in the light of those letters.
7. Save the joker for a real block
The joker reveals one letter of the word after the prefix, in a position you don't know yet. It costs about 60 points, slightly more than a first mistake. Use it when the definition means nothing to you, even after trying a candidate: one well-placed letter in the middle of a long word often unlocks everything.
To review the rules, read how to play Prefixo. And if you enjoy finding words from definitions, try our games like crosswords.