Word/Phrase Query Tools

In my (betaveros’s) opinion, the first three tools are all highly useful; each has significant unique strengths that may make them superior to all other tools, depending on the scenario. They are the first three tools I would suggest learning, in that order. The remaining tools are not as strongly ordered; I believe every one of them may still be superior to all other tools in some specific scenarios, but those scenarios will be rarer.

Tool Corpus Search pattern support Semantic search
OneLook (+ Reverse Dictionary) synthesis of dictionaries globs*, consonants/vowels, conjunction, anagramming reverse dictionary
Nutrimatic mined from Wikipedia + Wiktionary custom regexes w/ anagramming and (buggily?) rearranging arbitrary patterns no
Qat (about) choice/union of dictionaries custom regexes w/ multiple word constraints, anagramming, letterbanks “qategories”
MoreWords Scrabble-ish dictionary globs* no
RhymeZone dictionary globs* no
CrosswordNexus Wikipedia Regex Search Wikipedia/Wiktionary titles Perl regexes w/ backreferences no
Lou Hevly’s Regex Dictionary American Heritage Dictionary 4th Perl regexes w/ backreferences no
Mystery Hunter’s Word Search choice of dictionaries/Wiki titles Perl regexes w/ backreferences? no
NPL’s Base Finding Tools choice of dictionaries single-letter wildcards no
OneAcross ? single-letter wildcards crossword clue database
util.in’s Heavy-Duty Anagram Solver ? simple regexes and anagramming; “80% confidence” letters no

* “globs” is shorthand for the “any single letter” wildcard and “any number of letters” wildcard, the two simplest components of glob patterns in programming.

Anagramming

Codes and Ciphers

Printable code sheets

Table A=1 Bases Morse Braille Semaphore ASCII Others
Puzzled Pint (PDF) 2, 3, 10, 16 yes yes yes   Pigpen, NATO
Eric Harshbarger (PDF) 2, 10, Roman yes yes yes yes ASL, phone, ICS flags, Scrabble, Dvorak, Dancing Man, Gold Bug; also includes digits 0–9
Netninja.com (PDF) 2, 3, 8, 10, 16 yes yes yes yes good “reverse” Morse/semaphore lookup

Other References

Tools

Infrastructure

Other Lists I Stole From