Methodology

How WordSQD Validates Words

Every official answer passes the same server-side checks for spelling, dictionary membership, required-letter order, and Forbidden mode restrictions.

The active dictionary

WordSQD currently uses its canonical version 1 English word list. The build process lowercases entries, keeps only the letters a through z, removes entries shorter than three letters, removes duplicates, sorts the result, and records a checksum. The public home screen shows the active version and word count.

The game does not ask a language model or search engine whether a submission “looks like” a word. The normalized spelling must exist in the active versioned list.

Server validation sequence

1. Trim surrounding spaces and convert the answer to lowercase.
2. Reject spaces, numbers, apostrophes, hyphens, and other punctuation.
3. Check exact membership in the active dictionary.
4. Find each required letter from left to right, continuing after the previous match.
5. In Forbidden mode, reject the answer if it contains any blocked letter.

The browser can provide quick feedback, but saved games, Daily scores, and challenge results are rebuilt and scored on the server.

Plurals and inflected forms

Plurals, past-tense forms, participles, and other inflections work only when that exact form appears in the active dictionary. Acceptance of a root word does not automatically accept every suffix.

Names, places, brands, abbreviations, and capitalization

The validator does not maintain separate name, place, brand, abbreviation, or acronym categories. It converts letters-only input to lowercase and checks exact dictionary membership. A spelling in the current list can therefore pass even when a player usually recognizes it as a name or shortened form; capitalization does not affect the result.

Punctuation

Apostrophes, hyphens, spaces, numerals, and other punctuation fail the input rule before dictionary membership is checked.

Archaic, regional, technical, and slang words

The current list is broad, so it can contain words that one player knows and another does not. Dictionary membership, rather than familiarity, settles the round. A genuine word can still be absent from the current version; report it for review rather than assuming the score should change mid-board.

Duplicate required letters

Each required tile needs its own position. For ALL, ALLEY and ALLOY pass because each contains A followed by two separate Ls. ALONE fails because it has only one L after A.

Rejected words and corrections

A rejection can come from invalid characters, missing dictionary membership, wrong letter order, or a Forbidden letter. Send disputed words to hello@wordsqd.com with the displayed letters, submitted word, difficulty, and date.

Accepted corrections belong in a new dictionary version used for future boards. WordSQD does not quietly change the word list during an open Daily Challenge.

Fairness and leaderboard integrity

The Daily endpoint accepts only the current Central Time board. It recalculates every round from the deterministic seed, preserves the first completed score for each account and date, and ranks by score, best combo, longest word length, then completion time.

Read the official rules or the deeper validation article.