General Question

trashknob's avatar

How can I find a comprehensive list of all English words?

Asked by trashknob (1points) October 17th, 2008

I just want the list, no descriptions. Like a list that I can put into an excel spreadsheet. I’ve looked online and can’t find this – very surprising! Any ideas would be appreciated….

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8 Answers

Harp's avatar

This site links to a few major word lists.

forestGeek's avatar

Scrabble Dictionary

jvgr's avatar

The complete Oxford Dictionary of the English Language.

Lightlyseared's avatar

www.oed.com but they charge for access.

La_chica_gomela's avatar

Welcome to fluther!
I’m sorry you can’t find what you’re looking for, but it turns out there is no such thing as a comprehensive list, because English, like all living languages is fluid and always changing. We, as an English-speaking community, consider the Oxford English Dictionary to be the best possible approximation of all words, and thus the authoritative list. Unfortunately for you, it is a dictionary, not just a lexicon, so it does include definitions.

morphail's avatar

OED editor-at-large Jesse Sheidlower explains why we cannot agree on a comprehensive list of all English words:
http://www.slate.com/id/2139611/

La_chica_gomela's avatar

Excellent article, morphail! You and I always seem to answer these oxford english dictionary-related questions, and in similar ways, too. We are really on the same page! (get it? ah, i crack myself up…)

kritiper's avatar

I always liked those HUGE dictionaries the libraries have.

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