Sites

Dictionaries

Webster's Dictionary

Look up words in Webster's or a Thesaurus via a search feature. This is similar to Dictionary which I list under Best Sites because of it's links to sites under various other categories.

Onelook Dictionary

Similar to Webster's, but you can look it up in 560 dictionaries.

Your Dictionary

This is a site of links to all kinds of dictionaries: language, legal, medical, and more.

Rhyme Zone

In the usual search method, find words that rhyme with your given word, or are homophones, or match last syllable, or even synonyms.

World Wide Words

Interested in words and their meanings and derivations? This site is loaded. It even has my favorite: floccinaucinihilipilification. (I'm sorry, I previously had this misspelled as flaucinaucinihilipilification, but it got me a lot of hits by people misspelling it.)

Aphorisms Galore

Well, first you may be asking what is an aphorism. It is a brief statement containing an important truth or fundamental principle. You might just thing of it as a witty saying. Unless you have a particular author in mind, follow the 'Aphorisms by Category' link. Skip the 'Random Aphorism more' link. If you want random aphorisms you must refresh your page, unless you have your browser set to refresh automatically each time you access the page.

Cliché Finder

This is a neat place: it does one thing. Enter one or more words and it will give you a list of clichés with the word or words in them. Nothing fancy, it doesn't provide any information about the clichés.

Etymologic

Now this might not be your cup of tea, but I find it fun. They call it 'The Toughest Word Game on the Web.' You get 10 words or phrases, and 4 choices for each - to answer what is the derivation or meaning of the word. Most are surprising. After the 10, you can try a new set. It's not easy, but as I said, for me it is fun and interesting.

Chiasmus

Shall we call this site a very interesting play on words. A chiasmus is a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases. A rather interesting and humorous reading. You can also get a weekly mailing.

Word Detective

Word Detective comes from a newspaper column that answers questions on the origin of words. So browse through the list of words (click on archive of back columns ), or send your own query and wait for it to appear someday. Maybe you can use it to play Etymologic , above.

Antagonyms

Since I like words, this site presented interesting words. Antagonyms are words that have two meanings, and these meanings basically contradict each other. The author has other pages and one of them is Heteronyms, which is about words that have different meanings when the word is pronounced differently.
I always found such words interesting, when I discovered them, but who knew there were so many antagonyms and heteronyms.

Oxymoron List

Oxymorons are fun expressions that combine seemingly contradictory words. Here is a good list of them.

Confusing Words

There are many words that are similar and people are confused as to which one they should use, like affect and effect, or farther and further. Some people think they are interchangeable. There is no list of words here, you have to enter one of them in a search.

Common English Errors

Here's a list of words often used incorrectly, or 2 words that are confused with each other. It then let's you know how they are used properly.

Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia

As the page title indicates, this is a collection of some odd words - like palindromes, and uncommon words with the same letter multiple times in a row. This first page is an index, and some sections are just titled 'Miscellany'. Also, it isn't all English words.

The Phrase Finder

The Phrase Finder is the main section of the Meanings and Origins of Phrases, Sayings and Idioms. Over a thousand sayings, in alphabetical order (plus a search), with their meanings and origins, as the title says. There are a couple of special sections for phrases from Shakespeare and from the Bible.

Travel Further

Ever wonder how British English and American English differ? This site is a dictionary of British English words that are different than what is used in America. Blimey!

Word Play

Now, if you are really into words, Word Play is a site of many links to sites that feature fun with words. Maybe you will find some that you can tell me about.