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Words of the Year

2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski talks about 'surreal' and the rest of our Word of the Year 2016 selections


How did we choose surreal as our Word of the Year for 2016? Peter Sokolowski explains the data behind our decisions, and what that tells us about what people were thinking this year.

Don't miss our in-depth look at surreal and our gallery of top trending words from 2016.

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play peter_talk_about_word_of_the_year_2016
2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

 

How we chose 'surreal'

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Healthy vs. Healthful

 

Why both words are equally good for you.

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On Contractions of Multiple Words

 

You all would not have guessed some of these

play merriam-webster eggcorns title page
What Is an Eggcorn?

 

And how did it get that name?

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Further vs. Farther

 

They started as same word, but their meanings have drifted apart over time.

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I vs. Me

 

'Between you and __'? Simple guidance for a tricky pronoun.

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Some Odd Words with ISMO: "The One-derful Won"

 

Comedian ISMO tries to figure out 'one' and 'two'

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
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Commonly Confused Words Quiz Vol. 2 A quiz to (peak/peek/pique) your interest.
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