With a 530,000-word database, we present the only vocabulary test in the world that comprehensively measures your vocabulary knowledge! Caveat: this is a beta test! Sometimes, nonexistent words might have been mistakenly categorized as real words, while some real words might have been erroneously labeled as fake! That said, give us some feedback! Our ultimate goal is to develop a version of this test that utilizes a dynamic vocabulary list sourced directly from an authoritative online dictionary.
A note on proper nouns: our list of real words contains proper nouns that may or may not be capitalized. So, if you recognize a word like “frigidaire” (a brand of electric refrigerator) and understand what it means, be sure to click “I know the word.”
A note on fake words: To discourage you from clicking “I know the word” for words you don’t even know, we’ve added (and will continue to add) fake words that sound plausible. These include not only nonexistent words (e.g., “biogenomical”) but also words that denote nonexistent objects, animals, plants, people, or other fictitious things–because after all–and without resorting to tortuous arguments–how can you justify clicking “I know the word” for the term “Gloucestershire Hound” if there is no such breed of dog?!
Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity! Take the test now, share your results, and join the conversation in the comments below. We’re eager to hear your feedback and discuss how we can improve this tool together. Your input is crucial to us!
How many words do you know in the English language?
Enable Profanity FilterInstructions: Click “I don’t know” for words you don’t know and “I know the word” for those you do.
- 1. 1 point is incremented for each real word you know. 2⅓ points are deducted for each fake word you claim to know.
2. There are 70 real words and 30 fake words drawn randomly from our (ever growing) word bank every time you play.
3. Remember this is an English language test. Foreign words that are not loanwords count as fake words! (However, proper nouns like “Minamoto” do count as real words!)
4. Feel free to enable the profanity filter, which eliminates not only profanities but age-inappropriate words. While we estimate that only around 1 in 1,000 words are profane or age-inappropriate, the profanity filter errs on the side of caution by filtering out any word we can think of that might be unsuitable for young children.
5. Lastly, feel free to click on any of the words that appear in the results after you are done playing! Clicking on a word in the results opens a new tab with a Google search for the word’s definition!
Number of Real Words: Loading…
Number of Fake Words: Loading…
Other Games
Lastly, be sure to check out all our other games on our Games page or simply click on one of our featured arcade-vocabulary hybrid games featuring our 530,000-word database below:
- Space Invaders Vocabulary Game: a vocabulary twist on the addictive 1970s game in which you shoot at aliens, this game encourages you to answer vocabulary questions correctly to increment lives, while incorrect answers deduct lives.
- Fake Tetris: control the speed of falling tiles by answering vocabulary questions. Giving six consecutive correct answers eliminates half the tiles on the screen, and giving ten consecutive correct answers clears all tiles.
- Word Snake: a vocabulary twist on the addictive classic 1990s Nokia game in which you maneuver an ever-growing, moving snake to eat an apple, this game encourages you to answer vocabulary questions correctly to slow down the snake, while incorrect answers speed up the snake.
- Word Pong: a more relaxing game that requires you to multitask by playing the classic 1950s pong game while answering vocabulary questions. Users can choose to use one or two balls on various difficulty modes.
Updates
May 14, 2024 at 12:10 p.m. (GMt+8):
We added another 70,630 words from Princeton University’s lexical database WordNet!
Current number of real words: 529,541. Current number of fake words: 232,853.
May 13, 2024 at 4:45 p.m. (GMT+8):
We just added an optional profanity filter that eliminates potentially offensive words! By default, the filter is turned on, in which case the calculations in the results reflect changes to the number of words made by the filter. We’ve identified 137 offensive words, but the list will undoubtedly grow. Also, there are now a whopping 232,451 fake words!
Key Updates
- optional profanity filter
- 230,000+ fake words
Current number of real words: 458,472. Current number of fake words: 232,451
May 12, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. (GMT+8):
Holy cow! We have more than 450,000 real words in total now! We found a very useful file containing virtually every word in the English language and imported all the words into our database before eliminating duplicates. In the next few days, we will have to significantly expand our measly list of 3,034 fake words. We will still have to go over the entire Merriam-Webster dictionary to make sure that idioms and phrases are in the list of real words too.
May 12, 2024 at 12:15 p.m. (GMT+8):
We created a database from which our game can fetch real and fake words. It was way easier to accomplish than expected. If all goes as planned, we will be able to expand our word list indefinitely!
Current number of real words: 65,937. Current number of fake words: 3,034.
May 11, 2024 at 9:10 p.m. (GMT+8):
We surpassed 60,000 words! Unfortunately, there seems to be an invisible word limit restricting the number of words we can add. Somewhere between 63,131 and 66,062 words, mysterious computer forces we do not comprehend prohibit us from updating this webpage. We shall figure out a way to circumvent this problem in the next few weeks. Until then, make do with 63,131 real words and 2,909 fake words!
May 11, 2024 at 1:35 p.m. (GMT+8):
Many entries from Merriam-Webster consist of multiple words or even phrases! We have decided to keep those phrases as well as well-known acronyms (e.g., “wnba”).
Current number of real words: 58,186. Current number of fake words: 2,909
May 9, 2024 at 7:55 p.m. (GMT+8):
We’ve added 1,267 words to the real word list. 194 start with the letter ‘z’ and come from Merriam-Webster, and a whopping 592 words start with “self-” (e.g., “self-actualization,” “self-disparagement”)! A few are loanwords from Chinese and Japanese, and the rest of them are whatever came to mind. Adding 1,000 real words and 300 fake words was faster and easier than we’d expected, so we shall not announce updates until we’ve added another 3,500 real words and 500 fake words.
Current number of real words: 53,652. Current number of fake words: 2,287.
May 8, 2024 at 9:45 a.m. (GMT+8):
We’ve added more than 300 words to our lexicon. Also, while eating Indian food, we discovered that words such as “naan,” “tandoori,” and “raita” were missing!
An update on updates: since we don’t want to spam this page with updates, henceforth, we shall post updates here only if we’ve added at least 1,000 new real words and 300 new fake words.
Current number of real words: 52,385. Current number of fake words: 1,969.
A healthy bowl of raita
May 7, 2024 at 3:50 p.m. (GMT+8):
There are now two nifty counters displaying the total number of real words and that of fake words.
Also, words shown in the results are now clickable links to a Google search!
We’ve also been adding names of rare animals such as “vaquita,” “cuscus,” “ili pika,” “tiliger,” “solenodon,” “grebe,” “hirola,” “aye-aye”, “and “galago.” Some terms used in academic philosophy have also been added, including “ampliative” and “abductive.” We will be adding more words related to philosophy and medicine.
Current number of real words: 52,075. Current number of fake words: 1,942.
May 6, 2024 at 3:05 p.m. (GMT+8):
We’ve added hundreds of words, including approximately 30 common plant and insect genera, to the real vocabulary list. We’ve also added 613 fake words that sound real to the fake list. This may not seem like a lot, but realistic-sounding fake words are surprisingly difficult to generate. Be sure to let us know if any of the fake words are real and can be found in a reputable English dictionary!
Current number of real words: 52,056. Current number of fake words: 1,100.
May 5, 2024 at 7:38 p.m. (GMT+8):
The dictionary now contains more than 51,000 real words! There is no longer a disproportionate number of obsolete words, but we might add more obsolete words from ‘f’ to ‘z’ (since our obsolete word generator crashed when it got to the word “flurrikin” yesterday). In addition to adding obsolete words, we have to delete a few duplicate entries and add more fake words, including non-English words.
Acknowledgments
First, thanks to Ghent University!
The idea for this comprehensive vocabulary assessment comes from researchers at Ghent University (Belgium), who made a near-identical word game years ago (in around 2016, if I remember correctly). If memory serves me right, Ghent University’s test drew 70 real words and 30 fake words from a list of 60,000+ real words and 6,000+ fake words, respectively. Because the university’s word game is no longer accessible online, I decided to replicate the game myself.
I must also thank my wife, Debby Lin, and my mother, Min-Fei Chen, for putting up with my countless hours of work on this vocabulary game. Many thanks also go to my students and friends, but since I have not received permission from them to publish their names, I will respect their privacy.
About Milestone College Consulting
Milestone College Consulting is a small but dedicated team of indefatigable teachers and college application consultants led by Vanderbilt summa cum laude graduate Raymond Chuang, who has had fourteen years of experience in getting students accepted to top universities. Raymond drinks lots of coffee and energy drinks and is also a professional jazz pianist and amateur theremin player. Right now, he also teaches writing and serves as an advisor of the press team at an international high school in Taiwan. If you want to boost your academic performance and chances of acceptance to your dream schools, check out our expert editing services, book an appointment, or contact us immediately!
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