Word pattern finder
Search words with patterns such as C?T or endings.
How to use
Search for words by shape rather than by meaning: type the letters you know and a ? for each unknown letter, and get every word in the dictionary that fits, in alphabetical order. A * stands for any number of letters, including none, so it searches word endings, beginnings or anything in between.
With only ? the length of the pattern is itself a filter: c??t returns four-letter words only, which is how a crossword is solved. With a *, the length is free: c*t returns every word that starts with c and ends with t, whatever its length.
Capitals do not matter, but accents do: e does not match é, so type accented letters as they are spelled. In some lists a ? can also match a hyphen or an apostrophe inside a compound word. The dictionary follows the page language by default and can be switched to English, Spanish, French, German, Italian or Brazilian Portuguese; the lists come from open-source spelling dictionaries and differ in size and in which inflected forms they include. Up to 1,000 results are shown.
The number of results is decided almost entirely by how many letters you fix, and by which ones. Fixing a rare letter narrows the list far more sharply than fixing a common one, so enter the letters you are most confident about, especially the unusual ones.
Example
c?tIn the English dictionary: cat, cot, cut and cwt.c*tEvery word that starts with c and ends with t: over 600 in English.*ologyWords ending in -ology, from aerobiology onwards: over 350 in English.qu?zJust one: quiz.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write the pattern?
One ? for each unknown letter and the known letters in their positions; use * for a stretch of unknown length. The length of a pattern without * is itself a filter, so count the squares before searching.
Why do I get so many results?
Because too few positions are fixed, and usually because the fixed ones are common letters. Adding a single uncommon letter typically cuts the list by more than adding two ordinary ones.
Why is a word I know missing?
Because it is not in the dictionary, or because it is spelled with an accent you did not type. Spelling dictionaries leave out most proper nouns and abbreviations, and some store only base forms.
Can I search in another language?
Yes. Choose the language in the dictionary list; each language uses its own word list.