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word of the year 2018 woty behind the scenes
Words of the Year

2018 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski discusses 'justice' and the rest of our Word of the Year 2018 selections


How did we choose justice as our Word of the Year? Peter Sokolowski explains the data behind our decisions, and how this and the other Words of the Year reflect what was on people's minds this year.

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play word of the year 2018 woty behind the scenes
2018 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

 

How we chose 'justice'

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When Body Parts Are Also Verbs

 

Head, shoulders, metaphors, and toes

play backward index mystery
The True Story of the Backward Index

 

These people needed a computer

play video schwa
The Schwa

 

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

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Is It 'Hanger' or 'Hangar'?

 

How to remember which is which

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How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

 

And is one way more correct than the others?

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 Pick the best words!
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?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-with-a-telescope
Spot the Misspelled Word Quiz March 2026 Guage your ability to identify out-of-place letters.
See All