Frequently asked questions about the word tools
Answers about which words are included, how blanks and patterns work, what is stored about you, and why a word may be missing or unexpected.
Which words are in the word lists?
The English list has 81,072 words from SCOWL and the Swedish list 398,800 words from SALDO's morphology (CC BY 4.0). Both are lowercase spell-checker lists without proper nouns or most abbreviations; a few abbreviations that contain a vowel remain in the English list. The method page describes every filter.
Is this the official dictionary of a word game?
No. The lists are open spell-checker lists, not tournament dictionaries. A word can be here and missing from your game, or the other way round. Check a disputed word in the dictionary your game uses.
What do ? and * mean in the search boxes?
In the wildcard search, ? is exactly one letter and * is any number of letters, including none. [aeiou] is one letter from the set and [^aeiou] is one letter outside it. In the word finder and the anagram solver, ? stands for a blank tile or an unknown letter.
How do blank tiles work?
Each ? fills exactly one letter you do not have. The word finder accepts a word when the number of missing letters is at most the number of blanks. The anagram solver needs a word with exactly as many letters as you typed.
Is what I type sent to a server?
No. The word lists are downloaded to your browser and the search runs there. Your input is kept only in the page address so that you can share or bookmark a link. Ads and analytics load only after you accept them.
Why is the Swedish list so large?
It comes from a lexicon that includes every inflected form of each word, so roughly 128,000 lexicon entries become 398,800 word forms. Genitive forms, proper nouns, abbreviations and compound-prefix forms are removed.
Why do rare or old words appear?
The Swedish lexicon records rare, old and dialect forms, and the English spell-checker list has a similar reach. That makes the lists broad. If you are unsure about a word, look it up before you play it.
How are suggestions in the five-letter helper chosen?
With 400 words or fewer left, each word is tried against all the others and ranked by the expected number of words remaining. With more, letter frequency is used. Suggestions are always words that could still be the answer.
Can I share a search?
Yes. The address in your browser holds your letters, pattern and filters. Copy the address and send it.
Why only English and Swedish?
A language is added only when an open-licence list that can be redistributed exists for it. The two lists here meet that bar. Their licences are on the method page and under every result.