Null Reference Code in My School Project

[Evil_Giraffe]

Okay, let's go back to your original sub. I'll mark in Red the condition you're interested in (whether the words match), Blue the code that should be executed if the condition is true and Green the code that should execute if the condition is false:

Private Sub btnGuessW_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnGuessW.Click
    Dim strWordGuessed = "BASSETT HOUND"
    Dim strWordtoGuess = "BASSETT HOUND"
    strWordGuessed = txtWord.Text()
    txtWord.Text = strWordGuessed.ToUpper()
    intNumTries += 1
    If strWordGuessed = strWordtoGuess Then
        MessageBox.Show("BASSETT HOUND")
        MessageBox.Show("You guessed the word in " & intNumTries & " tries.")
    End If
    intNumWrongTries = intNumWrongTries + 1
    If intNumWrongTries < 6 Then
        MessageBox.Show("That is not correct. You have guessed wrong " & intNumWrongTries & " times.")
    ElseIf intNumWrongTries = 6 Then
        MessageBox.Show("You lose")
        lblWord.Text = "Bassett Hound"

    End If
End Sub

And compare that to what an If/Else block should look like:

If conditionExpression Then
    ' This code executed if condition true
Else
    ' This code executed if condition false
End If