It's Time For Fun With Words!

Category: Reference

It's common knowledge that Nail-Biting Refreshes The Feet. Oops! I meant to say that 'The Best Things In Life Are Free'. How did that come out so wrong? I must have had my brain hooked up to that anagram generator too long. Read on for a batch of fun links that will help you improve your vocabulary, win at word games, and impress your friends. Ready, set, go!

The World-Wide Web of Words

I always tell people that words are my toys, and I love to play with them. When I see a spelling error or grammar mistake, it's game on. Once I saw "Pork Lion of Beef" on a restaurant menu, so I had to order it. Poorly worded signs cause me no end of amusement. (Some of my favorites are below.) And my brain often insists that I count the number of letters in a phrase, and check to see if the sum is divisible by three. Why, brain, why?

But I digress... are you ready for linguistic diversion, frivolity and merriment? Do you want to find out how to become the animation of the assemblage? If you're a writer, a poet or just an aficionado of words, you'll love this collection of online word games and helpers.

Wordle is a fun word game that's become one of the most popular in the past year or so. Software engineer Jack Wardle created the free game as a side project, but because of its popularity, he was unable to keep up with the support demands, and sold it to the New York Times. In a nutshell (or even outside the nutshell), you are challenged to guess a 5-letter word in six tries or less. After each guess, the tiles change to show which letters are correct, and if they're in the right position. If you prefer to play on your phone, Wordling! is a very similar app for Android.

Fun with Words - funny sign 1

An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. For example, "Time Heals All Wounds" can be rearranged to form "Most Will Use A Handle". The Internet Anagram Server (aka "I, Rearrangement Servant") gives results in your browser, and has an Advanced interface which allows you to include or exclude certain words, specify minimum or maximum numbers of letters per word and a few other tweaks.

Anu Garg, creator of The Internet Anagram Server, also offers A.Word.A.Day, a newsletter for people who want to explore the world of words and share it with other wordlovers.

Also notable, illustrious and famed in the anagram arena is Anagram Genius. Anagram Genius seems to be better at processing long input strings and generating phrase-like results. For example: "not over until the fat lady sings" = "Stringently deathful ovations"

If you're a fan of the Scrabble board game, you'll love Scrabble Helper. Enter the seven letters on your Scrabble rack, and this nifty tool will reveal, disclose and divulge all the words that can be composed from them. You can even specify specific beginning and ending letters, or ask for words of a certain length.

Fun with Words - funny sign 2

If you're having trouble getting a word in a crossword puzzle, then perhaps OneAcross can help. In addition to pattern dictionary searches, it can analyze the clue as well. OneAcross lets you enter either the length of the answer or an answer pattern, in which you use a question mark for unknown letters in the word. OneAcross also has a tool to help you solve cryptograms.

Also, check out Win Every Game, which is a word builder and anagrammer that can be very useful for Scrabble players.

WORD TOOLS

At Dictionary.com, you can look up a word in either a dictionary or Roget's Thesaurus (to find synonyms and antonyms). The site also offers Ask Doctor Dictionary (for questions about words or grammar), the Word of the Day, daily crosswords, word search puzzles, and a huge list of links to other online dictionaries, including hundreds of non-English ones.

WordWeb Pro is a downloadable program that I find useful. It can be used to look up words from almost any Windows-based program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. The feature I like best is searching for words matching a pattern, such as "ab*ly" which will return abashedly, abjectly, abnormally, absolutely, absurdly, and a superfluity of others. Free and paid versions are available.

Fun with Words - funny sign 3

The WriteExpress Online Rhyming Dictionary is a helpful resource for poets and songwriters. You can find Ending rhymes (blue/shoe), Last syllable rhymes (timber/harbor), Double rhymes (conviction/ prediction), Beginning rhymes (physics/fizzle), or First syllable rhymes (carrot/caring).

Need a synonym, antonym, or related word? Try RhymeZone.

The Rinkworks "Celebration of the English Language" page will help you brush up on your Proprietary Eponyms, Contronyms, Heteronyms, Palindromes, Pangrams, and Autograms. There are also a handy lists of Commonly Misspelled and Mispronounced Words.

And finally, StoryFun is a variant of the Mad Libs word game, created by students at MIT who obviously don't have enough homework to do.

Do you have a favorite word-related site? Post your comment or question below...

 
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This article was posted by on 8 Mar 2022


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Most recent comments on "It's Time For Fun With Words!"

Posted by:

Bill C
08 Mar 2022

Bob, I feel for you. Every time a read a phrase I have to count the syllables and if it's an even number the phrase is goods and if it's odd, the phrase is bad !! Why brain, WHY ???

EDITOR'S NOTE: I also count steps, and adjust my stride to make sure I hit the top step with my right foot. Oh, and there's that license plate thing too... :-)


Posted by:

John Wood
08 Mar 2022

Hi Bob, thanks for this wonderful compendium. I've been a fan of yours for years, and of Anu Garg with A Word A Day for years too. But I had no idea until today that Anu also has Internet Anagram Server, so thanks for that. Please keep up the wonderful work!!


Posted by:

MartinW
08 Mar 2022

I don't know what's wrong with you people! Everyone knows phrases are best when they have four, eight, or sixteen words. (At the very, very least always an even number.) And don't even get me started on the number of letters in words!


Posted by:

Lucy
08 Mar 2022

If you love Wordle, try Quordle, it is at least four times more difficult! Yet so much more fun.

https://www.quordle.com/#/


Posted by:

Jay R
08 Mar 2022

Bill C. By your own standards, your last question is bad I'm really sure.


Posted by:

Brian B
08 Mar 2022

@Bill C
It must be hell trying to read a book.


Posted by:

John S
08 Mar 2022

A group of us went to a restaurant and saw this posted sign "Restroom is for costumers only". As we were a theater group, this caused no end of hilarity.


Posted by:

James Tracy
08 Mar 2022

Bob, This has nothing to do with Anagrams or crosswords. What REAllY gets me upset is the use of seen/saw. You see it everywhere. On movies, television, in person, even on TV interviews. "For
example: I seen a guy come this way". I scream at my TV and say "saw". Did they not learn grammer in school. Alright, My punctuation is not very good, but, I can at least speak the king's English.


Posted by:

Dave
09 Mar 2022

I have been bitten by a geography version of Wordle, that is interesting: https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/

And, if you are into math quiz, check this out: https://nerdlegame.com/


Posted by:

RandiO
09 Mar 2022

Thank you for all that you do for us!
WordWeb Pro is really that good of a little Windows utility. I boot it with Windows and have been using it well over a decade.
WordWeb used to be an environmental crusader before there were many of them on the web.
Every year (or when updates to the utility was available), the update procedure would ask you how many times you traveled using airlines and would only install the 'pro' version if your 'carbon footprint' was not over x-amount.
I have programmed Alt+Ctrl+W (quick access combination keys)for the WordWeb pop-up window, upon highlighting a word I want to peruse
[I just used WordWeb to confirm "peruse" is the proper usage of the word.]


Posted by:

Ernest N. Wilcox Jr.
10 Mar 2022

For those who would like Wordle on their Windows PC, the game is available as a free app in the Microsoft Store. I have it, and it seems to work very well, with the bonus that you can solve more than one word per day. :)

As for correct spelling, I depend on Windows spell-check. For proper continuity/word usage, I depend on proof reading what I type in before committing it for posterity.

Ernie


Posted by:

Frances
11 Mar 2022

C'mon, people. You can play Scrabble without the assistance of a device. Use your brains!

I'm with James Tracy on the proper use of the past tense. Particularly that "seen" instead of "saw".

And could we please learn the correct usage of commas!


Posted by:

John A
12 Mar 2022

Thanks, Bob, and commenters, for a lot of things to check out!

I have enjoyed receiving the Good Word of the day from Dr. GoodWord at Lexeteria (https://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/) and their other departments for many years.


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