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https://github.com/johnkerl/word-finder


https://github.com/johnkerl/word-finder

anagram anagram-finder anagram-solver puzzle-solver

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# Word Finder



This app lets you play around with word lists in various ways:



* Random mode lets you pick words at random from a word list. It uses

  [uniform-random sampling with replacement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)).

  This means that with a short word list, you are more likely to see repeats.



* Jabber mode (for [_Jabberwocky_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky))

  lets you see new words spliced together from existing words: for example, like the way we combine

  _spoon_ and _fork_ to make _spork_. This uses

  [n-grams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-gram) with the method detailed in

  [this write-up](https://johnkerl.org/randspell/randspell-slides-ts.pdf) from 2012. My

  implementation then was a command-line version written in Python; the implementation here is the

  same algorithm, but in JavaScript, usable on desktop or mobile.



* Pattern mode is a dictionary lookup. If you type in only letters, such as `example`,

  you'll the word at the bottom if it's in the dictionary, or nothing if it isn't.  You can also use

  a `.` to match a single letter, and/or `*` to match zero or more letters. For example,

  `t..th` will match `teeth`, `tooth`, and `tenth`; `th*st` will show you

  all words starting with `th` and ending with `st`.



* [Anagram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anagram) mode lets you see all the ways the

  letters of a given word can be permuted to make another existing word.



* Bee mode is a tool of last resort for the New York Times Spelling Bee (see below

  for philosophy).



## About the word lists



* The Usual Suspects list is a hand-curated collection of words I often miss in the NYT Spelling Bee (see below).

* The [Swadesh list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadesh_list) is about two hundred

  core English words, originally developed for linguistic research.

* The 2K list is the [General Service List](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Service_List)

  published by Michael West in 1953.

* The 10K through 40K lists were found on a web search.

* The 300K list is one I’ve accumulated over the years, from multiple sources I’ve lost track of.

* The Finnegan list is taken from an online corpus of _Finnegans Wake_.

* There are some non-English lists I found on the web. There is a skew toward languages I have

  some personal familiarity with.



## On-line help



Please see the hosted app, at either of the following locations, for on-line help:



* [https://johnkerl.org/word-finder](https://johnkerl.org/word-finder)

* [https://johnkerl.github.io/word-finder](https://johnkerl.github.io/word-finder)



## JavaScript tooling



This app uses the [Sliver JavaScript library](https://github.com/johnkerl/sliver).



This is a fun little DIY JavaScript project at the end of 2024 and the start of 2025.



## Spelling-Bee Philosophy



This is a word-list app -- a tool of last resort for the NYT Spelling Bee, and other things as well.

Here is my own approach:



* First: I start with the day's letters, of course.



* Second: I generally get around half the words before looking at the Grid. I consider this

  effectively a part of the game itself.



* Also second: The Buddy's Grid and Two-Letter List portions have all the same information as the

  Grid, while removing the need for scratch paper.



* Third, the Stats: these aren't hints by any means, but, they help me prioritize: if I'm missing,

  say, a six-letter word starting with a P, then if 80% of readers have found it, I do know the

  word, and I just need to search. But if only 20% of readers have found it, in my experience,

  that's a word I do _not_ know (yet).



* My partner and I have developed a list of the "usual suspects" -- words that seem to appear only

  in the Spelling Bee, including _aril_, _natant_, _tilth_, and _tinct_. These are encoded in the

  Word Finder app. The usual-suspects list also includes our oh-I-cannot-believe-I-keep-forgetting

  that words.



* I try to complete the puzzle using these four. About half the time, I can Queen Bee on this basis:

  without hints.



* Fifth: the reader hints. On those days I've got a few words left, I end up taking 1, 2, 3, 5

  hints; worst case, 10 or so. And looking at a hint almost always results in success.



* Sixth: even with reader hints there is occasionally a stumper. This rarely happens for me -- less

  than one day in ten -- in large part due to the quality of the reader hints.  The fork in the road

  is to shrug and say _I don't know what this word is_, and call it a loss for the day -- or, to

  find a way to learn what may be a new word.  Here is where word lists come into play -- and Word

  Finder's Bee mode is a word-list app designed for that desperate purpose.