Dictionary Policy
How we select words, what our dictionary covers, and why results may differ from other dictionaries or word games.
1. Our Dictionary
Anything Word uses a carefully selected and curated American English word list designed to help users discover words for puzzles, word games, and vocabulary exploration.
Our goal is to provide a reliable, useful, and sufficiently comprehensive collection of words while maintaining consistent standards for word selection and quality.
English is constantly evolving, and different dictionaries may recognize different words, spellings, and variations. No single dictionary can claim to be the definitive source of truth for every word in the English language.
2. Which Words Are Included?
Our word list includes a range of English words and accepted variations, such as plurals and other inflected forms.
We use consistent selection and normalization rules, including lowercase letters and the removal of accents where applicable.
3. Which Words May Be Excluded?
To improve relevance and consistency, our dictionary generally excludes:
- Proper names and trademarks
- Entries classified as abbreviations
- Words containing spaces, apostrophes, hyphens, or other nonalphabetic characters
- British-only spellings outside our selected American English word list
- Entries excluded under our dictionary-quality rules
Some uncommon or specialized words may still appear. Inclusion does not necessarily mean a word is familiar or commonly used.
4. Why Might a Word Be Missing?
A word may be absent because it falls outside our selected dictionary, follows a different spelling convention, or does not meet our word-selection criteria.
Different dictionaries and word games may recognize different words. The absence of a word from Anything Word does not necessarily mean that the word is invalid.
We periodically review our dictionary to improve its coverage, accuracy, and usefulness.
5. How Do Our Tools Differ?
Both tools use the same underlying dictionary but apply different search rules.
Word Finder supports searches beginning at two letters and lets you search by word length, known letters, exclusions, and patterns.
Word Unscrambler requires at least three input characters and finds words that can be formed from the supplied letters, including optional ? wildcards.
6. Are These Official Word-Game Dictionaries?
No. Anything Word is not an official dictionary for Scrabble, Wordscapes, or other individual games. Each game may use its own accepted word list, so results may differ.
7. Dictionary Updates
We aim to maintain a consistent, useful dictionary and improve its quality over time. Updates may add or remove entries as we review source material, word quality, and user needs.
Dictionary Attribution
The following copyright and permission notice is provided in accordance with the terms of the underlying word-list source.
Copyright 2000-2026 by Kevin Atkinson
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell any part of the English Speller Database (ESDB, previously known as SCOWLv2), or word lists created from it, is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and that both the above copyright notice and this notice appear in supporting documentation. Kevin Atkinson makes no representations about the suitability of this database for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.