Vocabulary Instruction with Wordle and InferCabulary
Wordle has quickly become a fan favorite. Teachers, English majors, crossword connoisseurs and over 300,000 of their closest friends across the nation patiently await 12 AM in their respective time zones for the newest Wordle to release every day.
What the Wordle?
The objective of Wordle is simple; it “invites players to guess a five-letter word in a similar manner as the guess-the-color game Mastermind. After guessing a five-letter word, the game tells you whether any of your letters are in the secret word and whether they are in the correct place. You have six tries to get it right.” Source
The list of potential Wordle words began with the 12,000 five-letter vocabulary words in the English language. Many of these word meanings were obscure. This upset the vast majority of players who were unfamiliar with these short, but challenging, vocabulary words. The creator’s wife, a Spelling Bee super fan, narrowed down the list to closer to 2,500 words. This list of vocabulary words which should keep people guessing for the next few years.
So, how does one become a better Wordle player? The answer is simple: vocabulary.
Vocabulary Instruction to the rescue!
The average 12th grader is expected to know somewhere between 50,000-80,000 words to be considered literacy proficient. Based on nationwide assessments, ⅔ of US students are not demonstrating such proficiency. So, when there are over 12,000 five letter words and 2,500 of them may be your morning Wordle, the time is now to start learning them.
In comes a fun and engaging way to learn vocabulary word 3-4 times faster than traditional or best practice instruction: InferCabulary. Our online vocabulary instruction tool can be done with a whole class, small group, independently, or even one-on-one at your kitchen table. InferCabulary has over 5,000 Tier 2 vocabulary words for K-12, and even adult learners. Using a new strategy called Semantic Reasoning, learners simultaneously view multiple, engaging images and short captions to infer the meaning of the given word. This approach was proven to help users comprehend meaning more deeply. In addition, learners are able to apply their understanding to new contexts better and faster than other approaches. No need to look up the word in the dictionary!
Wordle Vocabulary Words
Take for example the word droll, the Wordle of the day on June 28, 2022. The word droll is in fact, in InferCabulary. Droll is a Tier 2 word many people may not know the meaning of. Tier 2 meaning high frequency and found in most adult conversation and literature. By simply understanding a wider range of words you have an increased chance of succeeding at the admittedly addictive game! In the last three months, InferCabulary has had 27 of the answers to Wordle puzzles in its games.
Keep in mind, InferCabulary has far more words than just the five letter words that may appear in Wordle. In addition, some Wordle words may not be considered Tier 2 vocabulary. But don’t forget about all of the other fun word games that may improve with your newfound vocabulary knowledge (Scrabble and Bananagrams just to name a few)!
FREE online vocabulary tool
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