How do you solve Guess the Word on LeetCode?

Guess the Word (LeetCode #843) can be solved using Brute Force or Optimal Solution. The optimal approach is Optimal Solution with O(n) time complexity and O(n) space complexity. Key insight: Using feedback from guesses helps narrow down possibilities.

What is the brute force solution for Guess the Word?

The brute force approach for Guess the Word is Brute Force, with O(n²) time complexity and O(1) space complexity. In the brute-force approach, we simply guess each word in the list until we find the secret word. This is straightforward but inefficient as it could take many guesses. The optimal Optimal Solution approach improves this to O(n).

What algorithm or data structure is used to solve Guess the Word?

Guess the Word uses the following concepts: Array, Math, String, Interactive, Game Theory. The recommended patterns to study are: Hash Map, Array.

What are the interview tips for Guess the Word?

Explain your thought process clearly. Discuss trade-offs of different approaches. Practice guessing strategies before the interview.

What are common mistakes when solving Guess the Word?

Guessing randomly without strategy. Not utilizing the feedback effectively.

#843

Guess the Word

Hard

ArrayMathStringInteractiveGame TheoryHash MapArray

LeetCode ↗

Approaches

Brute ForceOptimal

Complexity Comparison

	Brute Force	Optimal Solution★
Time	O(n²)	O(n)
Space	O(1)	O(n)

💡

Intuition

Time O(n)Space O(n)

In the optimal approach, we can use a strategy to narrow down the possible words based on feedback from previous guesses, allowing us to find the secret word efficiently.

⚙️

Algorithm

3 steps

1Step 1: Create a frequency map to count how many words share the same characters.
2Step 2: Use a guessing strategy that maximizes the information gained from each guess.
3Step 3: Iterate through the words and make guesses based on the highest frequency of matches.

solution.py8 lines

1class Solution:
2    def findSecretWord(self, words, master):
3        for _ in range(10):
4            word = words[0]  # Simplified for explanation
5            matches = master.guess(word)
6            words = [w for w in words if self.matchCount(word, w) == matches]
7            if matches == 6:
8                return

ℹ

Complexity note: This approach is O(n) because we are filtering the list of words based on the number of matches, which can be done in linear time relative to the number of words.

1Using feedback from guesses helps narrow down possibilities.
2Maximizing information from each guess is crucial.

Solutions and explanations are original Tejav content. Problem titles © LeetCode — use the LeetCode button above for the full problem statement.