Common Sense Media Review
By Amanda Bindel
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Interactive word-builder impresses with lots of options.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Osmo Words
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
With OSMO WORDS you can play alone, competitively, or cooperatively, finding the missing letters for the word displayed in a picture. Choose from several themes of words, download other word packs for free by connecting to the Osmo website, or create your own word packs. Difficulty adjusts based on performance but can be manually adjusted for 12 levels ranging from easy (short words missing only one letter) to very hard (10-letter words with no starting letters). Each round lasts until a player reaches 100 points.
Is It Any Good?
The tablet becomes the gameboard in what feels a lot like an old-school wordplay game, but the tablet's options make it even more fun. The range of difficulty means everyone can be challenged, and the variety of word packs and the option to add your own make it really versatile. Enabling hints in the settings fills in a letter automatically after a minute with no activity. The images are striking, high-quality real-world pictures. One downside to Osmo Words: Competitors have to all play at the same challenge level because they both see the same word at the same time and race to see who can fill in the missing letters using their colored letters the fastest.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about words they encounter in Osmo Words and everyday life, reading signs together. Reading to kids and with kids is the best way to develop strong spelling and vocabulary skills.
Create custom cards for spelling lists, family names, or other interests through the Osmo website.
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad
- Subjects : Language & Reading : spelling , vocabulary
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : part-whole relationships , thinking critically , Collaboration : cooperation , meeting challenges together , teamwork
- Pricing structure : Paid, Free (Requires Osmo game system, which retails for $79.99)
- Release date : June 7, 2018
- Genre : Educational Games
- Topics : Numbers and Letters
- Publisher : Tangible Play Inc
- Version : 3.0.13
- Minimum software requirements : iOS 8.0 or later
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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