Words and Literature
-
With more than 12,000 free electronic books (eBooks) in their collection, Project Gutenberg provides mostly older literary works that are in the public domain in the U.S. The eBooks are free to download, read, and redistribute for non-commercial use.
Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders
Distributed Proofreaders is the main source of Project Gutenberg e-books. Volunteers proofread books so they can be added to the Project Gutenberg archive. A worthwhile and interesting volunteer opportunity -- there are no commitments, so you can proofread as often or as seldom as you like, and as many or as few pages as you like.
Michael Quinion's World Wide Words
Michael Quinion writes articles about language. One interesting article (linked to from his articles page) is "How Many Words?" It talks about how many words there are in the English language, and how to determine how many of those words a particular person knows.
-
Use this site's tools to search multiple dictionary sites simultaneously, use a wildcard pattern to search for words, or do a reverse dictionary lookup (great for cheating on crossword puzzles).
-
Need help with your Scrabble Game? Hasbro's site includes Word Lists (e.g., Q without U, words with at least 66 percent vowels), a Word Builder (buildes words from your current letter set), and a Dictionary for those inevitable challenges.
-
Create a secret message for your friends and family to decipher. A Java-based Cryptogram Creator.
-
Create your own cryptograms for other people to solve.
-
(aka, "I, Rearrangement Servant"). Creates anagrams for any word or phrase.
M-W Word of the Day Newsletter
Sign up here to have Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day e-mailed to you.
-
The A.Word.A.Day (A.W.A.D.) newsletter provides a vocabulary word, its definition, pronunciation information with audio clip, etymology, usage example, quotation, and other interesting tidbits about words to subscribers every day.
-
Sign-up for a weekly email list that's all about words.
-
This is a free downloadable dictionary. Benefits include platform independence (runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, etc.), plug-ins such as translators and speech synthesizers... plus it's open-source, so there's bound to be new features and enhancements.
-
"Words and phrases BANISHED from the Queen's English for Mis-, Mal- or Over-Use, as well as General Uselessness." A fun site that criticizes words/phrases in an annual list.