How to play Doodle Rebus
Doodle Rebus is a free online collection of rebus puzzles: brain teasers where pictures and the position of words stand for a word or a phrase. There are 60 puzzles of two kinds. In picture rebuses, real doodles drawn by people appear stroke by stroke, and you join what they show into a new word. In word rebuses, the way the words are written is the clue. Type the answer, and the next puzzle unlocks.
- Look at the puzzle. For pictures, name each doodle; for words, notice where and how they are written.
- If a doodle has letters to take away (“− MUSH”), remove them from its name.
- Put the pieces together, in order, and type the answer. The boxes show how many letters and words it has.
- Press Check or Enter. Stuck? Use a hint, but each one costs a star.
- Solve every rebus to collect all 180 stars.
Tips for solving rebus puzzles
- Say it out loud. Rebuses work on sounds as much as spelling. A pair of dice sounds like paradise.
- Position is a word. One word above another often means “over” or “upon”, below means “under”, and a word at the top of the box can mean “top” or “high”.
- Count things. Three of something can mean “tri” or “three”, six of something “six”, and four of something can mean “for”.
- Check the direction. A word written backwards suggests “back” or “backward”; a word written downwards suggests “down”.
- Use the answer boxes. The number of boxes in each group tells you the length of every word, which rules out most wrong guesses.
- Simple names first. In picture puzzles think of the simplest name: a fish, not a trout; a cup, not a mug.
Picture rebuses made from real doodles
The pictures in Doodle Rebus are not clip art. They are quick doodles drawn by real people for the open Quick, Draw! dataset, and each one is replayed line by line, so part of the fun is recognising a sketch while it is still being drawn. Early puzzles join two simple pictures, like a star and a fish for starfish or a dog and a house for doghouse. Later puzzles take letters away: a light bulb without “BULB” is light, so light + house is lighthouse, and a skateboard without “SKATE” is board, so a key and a board make a keyboard. The last few puzzles take letters away from both pictures at once.
Classic word rebuses
Between the picture puzzles you will find well-known word rebuses, the kind teachers put on the board and quiz nights love: words stacked over each other, split apart, repeated, reversed or squeezed into a corner of the box. They start easy, with two words side by side, and build up to phrases like reading between the lines. Every word rebus has a clue hint if you need a nudge.
Why rebus puzzles are good for your brain
Rebus puzzles train lateral thinking: you have to look at something familiar and ask what else it could mean. They also build vocabulary and knowledge of idioms, which is why they are popular in classrooms and with people learning English. Because each puzzle takes a minute or two, Doodle Rebus works well as a quick daily brain teaser, a warm-up activity for a class or a family challenge where everyone shouts out guesses.
More word and drawing puzzles
Enjoy naming doodles? Race to recognise them in Guess the Drawing, or turn it around and let the AI guess yours in Quick Draw. For a different kind of brain teaser, try drawing your way through Draw Puzzle.
Doodle Rebus FAQ
What is a rebus puzzle?
A rebus is a word puzzle that uses pictures, letters and the way words are placed to stand for a word or phrase. A picture of the sun next to a flower means sunflower, and the word MIND written above the word MATTER means mind over matter.
How do the picture rebuses work?
Each picture is a real doodle drawn by a person, replayed stroke by stroke. Say what each picture shows and join the words together. When a picture has letters to take away, such as a mushroom with “− MUSH”, remove those letters first: bed + room = bedroom.
How do the word rebuses work?
Look at where the words are and how they are written. A word above another can mean “over” or “upon”, a word below another can mean “under”, a word written backwards can mean “backward”, and repeated words can stand for a number, like three CYCLEs for tricycle.
How do hints and stars work?
Solve a rebus without help for three stars. The first hint names the pictures (or gives a clue for a word rebus) and the second shows the first letter of every word; each hint costs one star. If you are completely stuck you can show the answer and move on.
Do I have to spell the answer exactly?
Capital letters, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes do not matter, and common variants are accepted (hot dog or hotdog, sea lion or sealion). If you are one letter off, the game tells you that you are close.
Are the answers in English?
Yes. Rebus puzzles are built from the sounds and spellings of English words, so every answer is an English word or phrase. That also makes them a fun way to practise English vocabulary and idioms.
Is my progress saved?
Yes. Solved puzzles and stars are saved in your browser on this device. The game is free, needs no account and works on phones, tablets and computers.