The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
DECOY
Definition of DECOY
noun
A person or object meant to lure somebody into danger.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Dutch de + kooi, literally "the cage". Possibly related to verb coy (which itself may have been influenced by decoy).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
DECOY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 23 boards so far. 83 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 19, 8 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 106, 3 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 23, 12 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
DECOY starts with D and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read CDEOY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start DECOY
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 19
Could you have found DECOY?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 19 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER