Skip to content
ArcadePantrySurprise

Guess the Definition

Pick the real meaning of a rare word.

Play today's daily

How to play Guess the Definition

Goal

Choose the correct meaning for as many of the ten words as you can.

  1. 1Read the word at the top of the card.
  2. 2Pick the definition you think is real. Only one of the four is correct.
  3. 3Right answers build your streak. Wrong ones show the true meaning.
  4. 4After ten words, review every word and its definition.

On a computer

Press A to D or 1 to 4 to answer, Enter for the next word.

On a phone

Tap an answer, then tap Next word.

Play Guess the Definition free online. See an unusual English word and pick its real meaning from four choices. Ten words a round, three difficulty tiers.

Guess the Definition tips and strategy

  • Look for familiar roots. Noct means night, ped means foot, and phobia means fear.
  • Be wary of decoys that play on how the word sounds. Fakes often lean on an obvious sound alike.
  • Words ending in ous, ive or ent are often adjectives, so a noun definition may be a fake.
  • If two choices are nearly opposite, one of them is often the real meaning.
  • Read all four before you tap. The most dramatic option is not always the trap.
  • Use the review at the end. Seeing the real meaning right after a miss helps it stick.

About Guess the Definition

Guess the Definition shows you an unusual English word and four possible meanings. One is real and three are convincing fakes. Pick the one you believe and find out right away whether you were right. A round has ten words, and at the end you get a full review of every word with its true meaning.

This is the classic dictionary game that people have played at parties for generations, where players invent fake meanings for a rare word and try to fool each other. Here we have done the inventing for you. Every word in the game is a genuine entry from English dictionaries, from fairly familiar words like ephemeral and loquacious to oddities like gongoozler, a person who idly watches canal boats, and borborygmus, the rumbling of a hungry stomach.

Choose Easy, Medium or Hard to set how rare the words are. Your streak counts consecutive correct answers and your best streak is saved. The daily round mixes three easy, four medium and three hard words, so everyone gets the same ten.

Guess the Definition FAQ

Are these real words?

Yes. Every word is a real English word found in standard dictionaries, and every definition is written to be accurate.

How hard are the difficulty levels?

Easy uses words many readers have seen. Medium uses rarer words like obsequious and petrichor. Hard uses genuinely obscure words that few people know.

Do I see the same words again?

The game remembers recent words on your device and prefers fresh ones, so repeats are rare until you have played many rounds.

Is there a daily quiz?

Yes. Ten words a day, the same for everyone, with a shareable result.

More word games

All 21 word games