Methodology & data sources

Last updated 2026-10-07.

Word list

All tools use the ENABLE word list (Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon), 172,823 words, released into the public domain. It is widely used by word games and is close to, but not identical to, official tournament dictionaries, which are copyrighted and which we do not use.

Common vs. rare words

We rank words by how often they appear in English Wikipedia, using the wikipedia-word-frequency dataset (MIT License). Words seen at least 2,000 times (26,043 words) count as common; the rest are shown as rare and can be hidden.

Definitions

Definitions come from Open English WordNet (2025 edition), © the Open English WordNet team, licensed under CC BY 4.0. We show the first one or two senses and may shorten long glosses. WordNet lists base forms, so a plural or past tense shows the definition of its base word.

Scores

Scrabble scores use the standard English tile values. Words With Friends scores use that game's published tile values, which differ for 12 letters (see the comparison table). Scores are face value, before board bonuses.

Daily answers

Hints are written by us after solving each puzzle. We never republish puzzle grids or clue text. Answer pages are only published (and indexed) after the day's puzzle is checked.

Updates and corrections

Word data is rebuilt from these sources; each rebuild updates the date above. If you spot an error, tell us.