Contexto #1516 Hints & Answer Today, November 12, 2026

Contexto #1516 is the game for Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, and the secret word is a noun of 5 letters. Below are three hints, the thirty words the game ranks closest in five groups, a rank-band table and two guesses that land far away. The word waits at the end. The list leans on landscape, so read the scoring notes on our Contexto page before you trust a rank.

Hints, from gentle to strong

1. One syllable, five letters.
2. The closest words sit outdoors, among hills, trees and open ground.
3. It is small, fresh and moving, and a fish could live in it.

The 30 closest words, grouped by reason

These are ranks 2 to 31 from the game’s own list for game #1516; rank 1 is the secret word. The reasons for the groups are ours, because the game does not explain its rankings.

Trees and open green. meadow (5), grove (6), oak (15), wood (24), cedar (25), pine (27), willow (28), forest (31). Eight words, the biggest group.

Water. creek (2), lake (4), river (7), cove (11), pond (12), marsh (19). Six words for places where water gathers or runs, and the first rank after the answer is here.

Landforms. ridge (3), hill (8), valley (9), glen (13), canyon (16), mountain (20). Six words for the shape of the ground.

Paths and places. lane (14), mill (18), park (21), haven (26), trail (29). Five words for spots you walk to or pass through.

Odd ones out. beaver (10), stony (17), spring (22), fall (23), stoney (30). An animal, two spellings of one adjective and two words with several meanings.

What each rank band looks like

Rank band	Words in the band	Trees and open green	Water	Landforms	Paths and places	Odd ones out
2 to 10	9	2	3	3	0	1
11 to 31	21	6	3	3	5	4

The list goes on in the same style: road (32), prairie (33), crossing (34), bluff (35), campground (36), orchard (37), manor (38), estate (39), village (40). Bridge is 49 and trout is 68, so a guess about a place or a fish still lands in the top seventy.

Two guesses that miss

The plain synonym is the first trap. Stream ranks 64 and tributary ranks 328, well behind creek at 2. The second is to follow the fish: fish ranks 282, and waterfall ranks 254. This puzzle pulls toward scenery and place names, not toward the life or the motion of water. Words such as flow and rain are outside the 500 words the game lists. All ranks come from the game’s own list for game #1516.

Plan the rest of the day on the November 2026 calendar or the weekly printable. The other Thursday puzzles are up too: Wordle and Connections. Yesterday’s Contexto is on the game #1515 page.

Today’s Contexto answer (spoilers)

Stop here if you still want to solve it yourself.

The secret word for Contexto #1516 is Brook.

Yesterday’s word, for game #1515, was Chin. Game #1517 starts at 11 p.m. Eastern Time (ET).