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mrs malaprop
Words at Play

What is a Malaprop?

Editor Peter Sokolowski will tell you all the perpendiculars

A malapropism, or malaprop, is the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase, especially the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in context—like polo bears instead of polar bears.

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play mrs malaprop
What is a Malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

play video schwa
The Schwa

 

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

play hanger-hangar-illustrations
Is It 'Hanger' or 'Hangar'?

 

How to remember which is which

play illustration of a man watching a washing machine overflow
'All over sudden' vs. 'All of a sudden'

 

Figuring it out at once

play video websters video of 1864
Webster's Dictionary of 1864

 

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.

play woman and dog illustration
'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?

 

We're gonna stop you right there

play serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it
Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?

 

Thawing one of the mysteries of English

Games & Quizzes

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game You can make only 12 words. Pick the best ones!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A crossword with a twist
winning words from the national spelling bee logo
Spelling Bee Quiz Can you outdo past winners of the National Spelli...