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Here's your Connections hint for Sunday May 31

Need a Connections hint? Read our guide for help with Connections #1084.

An abstract image with an altered Connections logo in the centre, surrounded by circles connected by webbed lines.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/NYT
Laura-May Randell avatar
Guide by Laura-May Randell Contributor
Published on

This guide is for a previous day! Looking for today's? Check out the Connections hint for Monday 1st June!

Looking for some Connections hints to help with today's puzzle on Sunday, 31st May? We get it. Connections is filled with wordplay, diabolically specific pop-culture moments, and other such things you've never heard of.

Learning is part of the appeal of Connections, but so is growing that streak! Here, you can find hints toward the more obscure answers so you can learn without having to give up on your streak in the process.

How to play Connections

Connections is one of the most popular (and challenging) daily puzzle games published by the New York Times (owners of Wordle). The aim of Connections is to group the 16 words of the day into four groups, where each group of four words has a common theme.

For instance, the words "Hook", "Nana", "Peter", and "Wendy" are all Peter Pan characters. Or to take another example, "Action", "Ballpark", "Go", and "Stick" are all words which commonly come just before the word "Figure". These are the kinds of Connections you'll need to make to solve the puzzle.

Your job is to figure out what these themes are that connect the various words together - but be wary, because a lot of the time there are deceptive red herring connections placed purely to throw you off! To win the game, you have to find all four Connections without making 4 mistakes. On your fourth mistake, the game is over and the answer is revealed automatically.

Each of the four groups in each day's Connections puzzle is also assigned a different colour, which represents how easy or difficult the Connection is to find. These colours are: Yellow (Easiest), Green (Easy), Blue (Medium), and Purple (Hardest).

Click here to play today's Connections puzzle!

Connections hint: Today's Connections words

Below you'll find various hints for today's Connections. Each of the below hints will make it progressively easier for you to solve today's puzzle. First we'll reveal the words in today's Connections, followed by our Connections hint for each group. Then we'll reveal one word inside each group, followed by the groups themselves; and finally, at the bottom of this page, we'll reveal the answers to today's Connections puzzle. Here are the 16 Connections words for today:

  • SCHOOL BUS
  • RUBBER DUCK
  • BREAK
  • BUTTER
  • CUE
  • JACK
  • PIKACHU
  • POCKET
  • RACK
  • SALT
  • SASH
  • SEA DOG
  • SOAK
  • SPINE
  • STEAK
  • TAR

Connections hint for Sunday 31st May

Here are your Connections hints for today:

  • Yellow hint: Summer-toned things.
  • Green hint: Right off the break.
  • Blue hint: Aye, me hearties!
  • Purple hint: This group has an extra letter.
  • Extra hint 1: One group is not as straightforward as it might seem.
  • Extra hint 2: Every group has at least one word containing the letter 'T'

If you need a bit more help, tap the spoiler text below to reveal one word belonging to each group:

  • Yellow: Butter
  • Green: Pocket
  • Blue: Salt
  • Purple: Sash
Spoiler warning! Today's Connections groups are revealed just below!

Connections hints: All of today's Connections groups

If you need an even bigger clue to figure out today's Connections puzzle, below we'll reveal the four correct Connections groups - the themes which link together each set of four words in the Connections grid.

Here are the Connections groups for today:

  • Yellow: Things That Are Yellow
  • Green: Billiards Terms
  • Blue: Slang For A Sailor
  • Purple: Kinds Of Wood Plus 'S'

Now that you know the themes for the various different Connections in today's puzzle, see if you can solve it! If not, check below for the full answer.

Spoiler warning! Today's Connections answer lies ahead!

Connections answer today

Here is the answer to today's Connections puzzle on Sunday, 31st May:

  • Yellow: Things That Are Yellow (Butter, Pikachu, Rubber Duck, School Bus)
  • Green: Billiards Terms (Break, Cue, Pocket, Rack)
  • Blue: Slang For A Sailor (Jack, Salt, Sea Dog, Tar)
  • Purple: Kinds Of Wood Plus 'S' (Sash, Soak, Spine, Steak)

Well, if the purple group didn't trip you up today, consider me jealous. I thought I knew my woods, but I was sadly mistaken! Or maybe I'm just no good at discovering words hidden in other words while also trying to sort out other words. That's a lot of words.

Congratulations if you got today's Connections answer right, with or without the help of our handy hints above! And if you didn't succeed today, don't worry - a new Connections puzzle is released every day at midnight, so you can try again tomorrow, just like with Wordle!

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