Author: Wordsmyth

• How does the educational group subscription work?

The Educational Group Subscription provides premium features through a unique school URL. After the payment transaction is completed, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to your school start page (www.wordsmyth.net/school/yourschoolname/start). Through the start page, all group subscription users will be able to make use of Wordsmyth’s premium educational features, including Teacher Tools that allow educators to interact with their students. In other words, each subscription is given its own start page and each teacher or student can use this start page to get access to subscription privileges.

We recommend bookmarking your school start page or adding the URL as a link on your school’s website.

• How do additional users register for subscription privileges?

Educators in addition to yourself are required to register in order to use Teacher Tools and save data, such as wordlists and lessons. After registration, all users own their personal account. Users can log in on Wordsmyth sites or with the school URL. In other words, a user’s personal data will go with them wherever they are.

Students are not required to register (i.e., make an account) with Wordsmyth. Students have full access to subscription features through the school start page without logging in. However, when a teacher sets up a class and gives assignments to the class, students need to register for that class. Class registration is extremely simple–only the student’s name is required. This is just so that the teacher can identify each individual student in their class. Wordsmyth does not collect students’ personal information.

• Will my students and I be able to use our Wordsmyth Group Subscription from home?

Yes, you and your students can also use your subscription privileges from home, or anywhere with internet access. As long as a user can open the school start page, all Wordsmyth subscription features will be available.

• What if I already have a Wordsmyth account?

If you already have an account with Wordsmyth, (i.e., you have previously registered with Wordsmyth), you can log in with your existing account information on your school URL. We encourage you to keep only one Wordsmyth account. If you move to a different school, your saved data will go with you as long as there is a group subscription.

• If I log in from the standard Wordsmyth URL (www.wordsmyth.net), will I be able to use the educational group subscription features?

The short answer is “no.”

On your school URL, all teachers and students form an “educational group” who collectively enjoy the group subscription. On the Wordsmyth standard URL (wordsmyth.net), if you are the contact person of the Educational Group Subscription, you will have subscription privileges as an individual user. However, students and any other users will not have subscription privileges when logging in from the standard Wordsmyth URL.

To access Educational Group Subscription features, be sure to log in with your school URL.

• What happens if I use the school page without logging in?

If you use the school page without logging in, the site will be ad-free with full access to premium dictionary features. However, you will not be able to use Teacher Tools, and you will not be able to save any data, such as wordlists or lessons you’ve created.

• How can I cancel my group subscription?

You can click the cancel button on the subscription page while your subscription is active. Also, in your account settings, under the subscription tab, you will find the same “cancel” button.
After you cancel the current subscription, you will have subscriber privileges until the end of the subscription. The subscription will not be renewed after the expiration date.

• How can I change the number of users?

You can change the number of users for the upcoming subscription period. Please note the change will not take effect during the current subscription period.

The best time to change the number of users is when your subscription comes up for renewal. (You will receive an email reminder at renewal time.) To add new users, you need to first cancel your current subscription and then re-subscribe. The process is very simple! On the subscription page, click the “cancel subscription” button and confirm the cancellation. On the same page, there is a “Subscribe now” button available. Click it and you will see all your contact and school information prefilled and your school URL unchanged. Now you can change the number of users. Of course, if you need to change your contact information or school URL, you can do so as well.

If you are not completely sure about the number of users, please include a few additional slots when you subscribe.

• What happened to the Title I school financial aid program?  

The Title I school financial aid program has been discontinued. We are glad that we were able to support Title I schools with a free subscription in the past, but inflationary pressures have made our continued development dependent on support from all of our users. And we will continue to offer the lowest cost premium services available anywhere online or in print. 

What is reverse search?

“Reverse search” is an advanced search tool that allows you to search within the full text of the dictionary for words, word parts, or phrases that may be useful to you, either in finding a word for a meaning you have in mind or in finding a pool of words for writing inspiration or assignments. A typical way of using the reverse search feature in Search Tools is to search for words that have the search term in their definitions or example sentences. Just type the word in the search box provided and choose between the listed options for searching. Typing in “oil,” for example, can help you find words like “anoint,” “cottonseed,” “crude,” “deep-fry,” “diesel,” and “pesto.” Or let’s say you type in “Latin.” This can help you find all the examples of Latin phrases included in the dictionary (as well as other words with definitions and examples that simply include the word “Latin.”) Next to each item in the search results is its definition, or the first of its definitions. This can help you evaluate the usefulness of your search results. Moreover, you can click on any item in the results list to go to its entry. This can be very helpful in finding additional synonyms and related words.

Why do I need reverse search?

“Hmm… I know the idea I want to express, but I can’t think of what the word for it is.”

You probably have moments like this now and then when you are writing. Reverse search can be useful for finding the word that matches the idea you have in mind. Let’s say you are thinking of a meaning that is a special type of happiness. You could look up the word “happiness” in the regular dictionary search box and find synonyms, of course, but the word you’re looking for might be somewhat more specialized. Instead of using just the thesaurus, you could broaden your search using reverse search so that you could find all definitions that contain the word “happiness,” AND, by selecting additional fields in which to search, you could find a great number of words that relate to the idea of happiness. Perhaps the word you were looking for was the word “mirth” or “beatitude,” or “seventh heaven.” Reverse search would be the way to find these items.

For teachers, reverse search can be a great tool for coming up with a pool of words to organize a lesson around or to help students write about a particular topic. Let’s say the students are learning about volcanoes. You could use reverse search to find words like “magma,” “lava,” “erupt,” “dormant,” “extinct,” “active,” “explode,” “caldera,” “crater,” “cinder,” “tsunami,” and many others. (These words were found by entering “volcano” and “volcanic” into the search box and then clicking on “definition” and “example.”)

How do I use reverse search?

If you click on Reverse Search under Search Tools, you’ll be taken to a special page. The Reverse Search page contains explanations of all the kinds of searches you can perform.

The reverse search tool lets you search for any word, part of a word, or set of words within the text of definitions or other dictionary fields. In addition to searching within definitions and example sentences, you can find words within the synonym, similar, antonym or “related words” fields. Moreover, you can choose which dictionary or dictionaries you wish to search within. Choosing one of the lower level dictionaries is probably best for younger students, as the Advanced Dictionary may bring up far too many words to sift through, including words that are homographs with completely unrelated meanings to your search term. (For creating a pool of words for younger children, we might suggest using the Word Explorer tool rather than reverse search, however. Words listed under Word Explorer topics have been specially selected because they are, in fact, related to the topic, and they are related in clearly specified ways. They are not selected by an automated process as is reverse search.)

Reverse Search works best when the search parameters are not too limited. For example, if you want to find words related to sharks (the fish), you may be disappointed if your search term is only “shark.” This is because there are not too many words in the dictionary that have “shark” in their definition, and there may not be a large number of example sentences that use the word “shark” either (not as a fish at least). Moreover, few, if any, words have “shark” as a synonym or antonym. It would be better to search for a more general concept like “fish” or expand the search terms to something like “fish shark” and set the tool simply at “Word(s)” so that it will look for either the word “shark” or “fish.” Moreover, it can be helpful to click “example” because this will bring up useful additional words that have the search terms in their example sentences. By using the search terms “fish shark” and clicking on “example,” you will allow the tool to bring up words like “bony,” “hunt,” “saltwater,” “scaly,” “deepwater,” “reel, and “prey,” which do not contain either “fish” or “shark” in their definitions. Notice that this type of search also includes a greater number of words of a different part of speech from the search terms.

Reverse search is just one of the tools that Wordsmyth offers its users to help them find the right word or the particular set of words they are looking for. We know it can be helpful for certain types of searches, but we are also aware that it has its limitations. If you can think of ways that we might improve the tool, or, on the other hand, if you discover ways that the tool has been uniquely helpful to you, we’d appreciate your feedback.

Search Bar

• Look-up box: To look up a word, type it in the search box and click Go or hit Enter on your keyboard.

• Default dictionary levels: the Elementary Dictionary is for grades 3-5, the Intermediate Dictionary is for grades 6-8.

• Alphabetical Results: Here are words and phrases that appear alphabetically before and after your search word. Those in the list that are headwords are in dark gray, and words that are derived or inflected forms of headwords are in light gray. Double click on a word or phrase in the list to go to its entry.

• Multi-Word Results: If there are phrases or compound words that include the word you have looked up, they will appear in Multi-Word Results.

• Similar Spellings: Click on the Similar Spellings tab to see other headwords that are close in spelling to the one you looked up.

Entry display options

• More Results: The More results menu, located above the headword, provides three further options for getting information from your search. Show multi-word results shows phrases and compounds that contain the entry word, along with the first definition for each. Browse in word list shows the word in the middle of the dictionary word list so you can see the words coming before and after it. The third option, See entries that contain…, shows a list of entries using your looked-up word in their definitions.

• Display Options: Several display features can be controlled in your settings panel. (If you are signed in, you will see the Settings link in the top right corner of the page.) In addition, the Display options menu located on the entry page allows you to change existing settings right in the entry itself. The options include:

• Show Syllables (displays how words are divided in writing)
• Show Lookup History
• Double-Click Lookup (allows double-clicking on any word in a definition or example sentence to go to that entry)
• Show Word Parts (allows the user to see the roots and affixes that make up the headword and gives additional information)
• Show Spanish Support/Show Chinese support (translates headwords and examples sentences)
• Pronunciation (allows choice of pronunciation systems. Options are Wordsmyth pronunciation system, Phonics, and International Phonetic Alphabet)
• Entry Formats (offers options of “Standard” or “Classic”)

• Lookup History: If you have chosen to display your lookup history on the results page, the last five words you have looked up will be displayed in this box, along with an option to see more looked-up words along with definitions.

Entry

• Headwords: Words that have an entry in the dictionary are called entry words or headwords. They always appear at the top of the entry in large blue letters. Dots are used in entry words of more than one syllable to show how the word is divided in writing. The blue arrow next to the syllabified word allows you to turn syllabification on or off.

• WVI label: Words that are part of the Wordsmyth Vocabulary Inventory are marked with a label that shows what level they have been assigned to. Levels range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most advanced.

• Pronunciation: Headword pronunciation is provided using both written phonemic symbols and human-voiced audio recordings. Clicking on the speaker icon allows you to hear the headword pronounced, and clicking on the word “Pronunciation” provides you with an explanation of the particular pronunciation system being used to display the written symbols—Wordsmyth, Phonics, or IPA. (The pronunciation system shown is the one that has been selected in your display settings.)

• Features: The features list shows the particular special features, such as Word History, Word Explorer, and Word Parts that accompany the word’s entry. Clicking on a feature’s name will lead you down the entry to the feature’s location.

• Part of Speech: The Part of Speech label indicates the way, or one of the ways, that a headword can be used in a sentence—for example, as a noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb, or adjective. In any entry, click on the Part of Speech label (in dark blue) to see an animation explaining what a part of speech is in general. Click on the name of the part of speech listed next to the label (in light blue) to see an explanation of that particular part of speech.

• Inflections: The inflections field shows the different forms that a headword can take—forms such as “eats,” “eating,” “ate,” and “eaten”—which make up the inflections for the verb “eat.” In any entry, click on the Inflections label (in dark blue) to learn more about what “inflections” are and how Wordsmyth displays them.

• Definitions and Examples: A definition is an explanation of what a word means. Each word may have several meanings, also called “senses,” depending on how the word is used. The definitions in the Intermediate Dictionary are written simply and are somewhat concise. Definitions in the Elementary Dictionary use full-sentences and are more explanatory. They tend to be somewhat longer but are highly readable for younger readers. The examples below the definition show typical usage of the word. Examples demonstrate both the meaning and the grammatical context that the word is typically found in. Examples are always in italic type.

• Images and Animations: Thumbnail images are shown beneath the definition and example sentence. Clicking on a thumbnail will enlarge it. Some images are photographs and some are illustrations done by Wordsmyth artists.

• Synonyms and Antonyms: Synonyms are different words whose meanings are the same or almost the same as each other. Antonyms are words whose meanings are the opposite or nearly the opposite. Synonyms and antonyms are listed with the definitions of a headword with which they match. Click on any synonym or antonym (in green) to see its entry and compare usage.

Derivations: The Derivations field shows words that are derived from the headword, such as “heaviness” from the headword “heavy” and “agreeably” from the headword “agreeable.” Bear in mind that many words that are derived from headwords may not be listed as derivations as they have their own individual entries in the dictionary.

Special features

• Word Parts:  The Word Parts feature shows the headword broken down into its roots and affixes. Each significant word part is identified and its origin, type, and meaning provided. You can also view a list of other example words containing the word part and jump to those words’ dictionary entries to explore further. 

• Language Notes: There are four kinds of language notes: Word History, Usage Note, Homophone Note, and Word Builder. These notes appear with a yellow background toward the end of the entry. In some cases, a word has more than one language note.

• Word Explorer:  Word Explorer is a word finder and vocabulary exploration tool. Several thousand words in the dictionary have Word Explorer information.  These entries are linked with a main Word Explorer entry (a “keyword” such as “art,” “weather, or “energy”). The headword “easel,” for example, would refer you to the keyword “art.” The Word Explorer keyword entries display related words in categories, e.g., words that describe kinds of art, things used in art (such as an “easel”), people who make art, places for art, etc. Word Explorer is an especially useful tool for children writing on a particular topic, as it sparks ideas for what they may want to say and provides them with needed vocabulary. 

Search Bar

• Look-up box: To look up a word, type it in the search box and click Go or hit Enter on your keyboard.

• Default Selection: Click on the radio button next to the dictionary you want us to check first when searching for a word. This will be your default level. If you want to see entries that contain easy-to-read definitions and the smallest number of definitions for each word, select “Beginner’s Dictionary.” If you want to see entries that contain more advanced language and the greatest number of definitions for each word, select “Advanced Dictionary.” (After you select your default level, you can still navigate between levels if you want to see more or less advanced definitions for a particular word that you’ve looked up. This will not change your default.)

• Alphabetical Results: Here are words and phrases that appear alphabetically before and after your search word. Those in the list that are headwords are in dark gray, and words that are derived or inflected forms of headwords are in light gray. Double click on a word or phrase in the list to go to its entry.

• Multi-Word Results: If there are phrases or compound words that include the word you have looked up, they will appear in Multi-Word Results.

• Similar Spellings: Click on the Similar Spellings tab to see other headwords that are close in spelling to the one you looked up.

Entry display options

• Dictionary menu: This gives you the option to see the entry for the word you looked up in one of our other dictionaries, at a different level of writing.

• More Results: The More Results menu provides three further options for getting information from your search. Multi-Word Results shows phrases and compounds that contain the entry word, along with the first definition for each. Browse in word list shows the word in the middle of the dictionary word list so you can see the words coming before and after it, along with their definitions. The third option, See entries that contain…, shows a list of entries using your looked-up word in their definitions.

• Display Options: Several display features can be controlled in your settings panel. (If you are signed in, you will see the Settings link in the top right corner of the page.) In addition, the Display options menu on the entry page allows you to change existing settings in the entry itself. The options include:

• Show Syllables (displays how words are divided in writing)
• Show Lookup History
• Double-Click Lookup (allows double-clicking on any word in a definition or example sentence to go to that entry)
• Show Grammatical Patterns (reveals the patterns verbs follow as demonstrated in their example sentences and provides links to more information on the patterns)
• Show Word Combinations (shows words that often combine with the word you looked up)
• Show Word Parts (allows the user to see the roots and affixes that make up the headword and gives additional information)
• Show Spanish Support/Show Chinese support (translates headwords and examples sentences for intermediate level words)
• Pronunciation (allows choice of pronunciation systems. Options are Wordsmyth pronunciation system, Phonics, and International Phonetic Alphabet)
• Entry Formats (offers options of “Standard” or “Classic”)

• Lookup History: If you have chosen to display your lookup history on the results page, the last five words you have looked up will be displayed in this box, along with an option to see more looked-up words along with definitions.

Entry

• Headword: Words that have an entry in the dictionary are called entry words or headwords. They always appear at the top of the entry in large blue letters. Dots are used in entry words of more than one syllable to show how the word is divided in writing. The blue arrow next to the syllabified word allows you to turn syllabification on or off.

• WVI label: Words that are part of the Wordsmyth Vocabulary Inventory are marked with a label that shows what level they have been assigned to. Levels range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most advanced.

• Pronunciation: Headword pronunciation is provided using both written phonemic symbols and human-voiced audio recordings. Clicking on the speaker icon allows you to hear the headword pronounced, and clicking on the word “Pronunciation” provides you with an explanation of the particular pronunciation system being used to display the written symbols—Wordsmyth, Phonics, or IPA. (The pronunciation system shown is the one that has been selected in your display settings.)

• Features: The features list shows the particular special features, such as Word Combinations, Word Explorer, and Word Parts that accompany the word’s entry. Clicking on a feature’s name will lead you down the entry to the feature’s location.

• Part of Speech: The Part of Speech label indicates the way, or one of the ways, that a headword can be used in a sentence—for example, as a noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb, or adjective. In any entry, click on the Part of Speech label (in dark blue) to see an animation explaining what a part of speech is. Click on the name of the part of speech listed next to the label (in light blue) to see an explanation of that particular part of speech.

• Inflections: The inflections field shows the different forms that a headword can take—forms such as “eats,” “eating,” “ate,” and “eaten”—which make up the inflections for the verb “eat.” In any entry, click on the Inflections label (in dark blue) to learn more about what “inflections” are and how Wordsmyth displays them.

• Definitions and Examples: A definition is a short explanation of what a word means. Each word may have several meanings, also called “senses,” depending on how the word is used. The example sentence or phrase below the definition shows a typical usage of the word. Examples consist mostly of full sentences and demonstrate both the meaning and the grammatical context that the word is typically found in. Examples are always in italic type.

• Images and Animations: Thumbnail images are shown beneath the definition and example sentence. Clicking on a thumbnail will enlarge it. Some images are photographs and some are illustrations done by Wordsmyth artists. Illustrations and animations are geared toward children but are still helpful for older learners.

• Synonyms and Antonyms: Synonyms are different words whose meanings are the same or almost the same as each other. Antonyms are words whose meanings are the opposite or nearly the opposite. Synonyms and antonyms are listed with the definitions of a headword with which they match. Click on any synonym or antonym (in green) to see its entry and compare usage.

Derivations: The Derivations field shows words that are derived from the headword, such as “heaviness” from the headword “heavy” and “agreeably” from the headword “agreeable.” Bear in mind that many words that are derived from headwords may not be listed as derivations as they have their own individual entries in the dictionary.

Special features

• Word combinations: The Word Combinations feature displays words that are frequently used in combination with the headword you looked up. The sets of words that are shown in this field can help you find a word that is correct or appropriate to complete a particular meaning that you intend.

• Word Parts:  The Word Parts feature shows the headword broken down into its roots and affixes. Each significant word part is identified and its origin, type, and meaning provided. You can also view a list of other example words containing the word part and jump to those words’ dictionary entries to explore further. 

• Grammatical Patterns: (in Advanced Dictionary only) The grammatical patterns feature allows you to see what patterns a headword verb follows. Example sentences that demonstrate a pattern are marked with the name of that pattern, and clicking the pattern name will open up a more detailed explanation of the pattern, along with a list of other words that function in the same way and links to our full grammatical patterns list.

• Language Notes: There are four kinds of language notes: Word History, Usage Note, Homophone Note, and Word Builder. These notes appear with a yellow background toward the end of the entry. In some cases, words have more than one language note.

• Word Explorer:  Word Explorer is a word finder and vocabulary exploration tool. Several thousand words in the dictionary have Word Explorer information.  These entries are linked with a main Word Explorer entry (a “keyword” such as “art,” “weather, or “energy”). The headword “easel,” for example, refers you to the keyword “art.” The Word Explorer keyword entries display related words in categories, e.g., words that describe kinds of art, things used in art (such as an “easel”), people who make art, places for art, etc. Word Explorer is an especially useful tool for children writing on a particular topic, as it sparks ideas for what they may want to say and provides them with needed vocabulary.