Word App
Use Word App to search for words that can be made from entered letters. Multiple search types including anagram and pattern are included. Uses the SOWPODS or TWL06 word lists.
News
Please see the blog for news and changelogs.
A FAQ is available at the bottom of this page here.
Pro Version
A paid for 'Pro' version is available. The differences between Pro and standard are:
- Ad Free
- Word definition web search
Instructions
Enter the letters / word you wish to search on into the text field. '?', '.' or space can be used as a wild card or 'blank' letter. When using 'Pattern' search and '*' can be used to repesent any number of blanks.
Press the 'Search' button to start. A list of words matching the entered text according to search type will start to populate. They are listed along with their Scrabble score.
Press the 'Options' button to set search type, min/max word length and choose the word list.
The word list can be sorted alphanumerically, by length (longest first) or Scrabble score (highest first). Select the radio button corresponding to the sort type desired.
Press the 'Clear' button to clear your letter selection and start again.
Search Types
Pattern - The words found will include all the letters entered in the correct order.
Anagram - The words found will include all the letters entered in the any order.
Build - The words found will include all or a subset of the letters entered in the any order.
Build+ - As Build, but an additional text entry can be used to supply a template. The template can use the ? and * characters and extra letters A-Z. For example, query 'EPLTE' with template 'T.M..A*' will return 'TEMPLATE' as an option. Don't forget * represents 0 or more characters.
Regular Expression - Use a regular expression to define your search query.
Regular Expressions
Regular Expressions are a powerful tool for defining search patterns. Many good resources exist on the internet if you want to know more. Here is a list of interesting expressions to illustrate the kinds of queries that can be done:
| [a-e]* | Words only containing the letters a to e. |
| [^aeiou]* | Words that don't contain any vowels. |
| .*q[^u].* | Words that contain a q that is followed by a letter that is not a u. |
Word Lists
Word App uses the SOWPODS or TWL06 word lists used in tournament Scrabble.
SOWPODS is the word list used in tournament Scrabble in most countries except the USA, Thailand and Canada. The term SOWPODS is derived from the anagram of the two acronyms OSPD and OSW, these being the original two official dictionaries used in various parts of the world at the time. Although the two source dictionaries have now changed their respective titles the term SOWPODS is still used by tournament players to refer to the combination of the two sources. It contains 267,751 words.
North American tournament Scrabble currently uses the second edition of the Official Tournament and Club Word List (variously referred to as OWL2, OTCWL2, TWL2, and TWL06). This version was created by the National Scrabble Association Dictionary Committee in late 2005 and took effect on March 1, 2006. It contains 178,691 words.
FAQ
These words arn't really words / A common word is not included
There are a great many words in use in the english language and I cannot hope to please everyone as to there definition of what is a word or not. The 2 dictionaries offered to use are official word lists used in tournament Scrabble. I think if anyone has a right to say whether a word should be in or out of an application like this then it's these guys.
The word wont work in game X
See above question. It's not up to me to tell other developers which word list to choose. I think I've chosen the right one.
How do I uninstall the app?
I believe there is an option to uninstall in Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Word App. If that doesn't work, try restarting the phone and trying again.