when you don’t know the right answer is always the longest one…
How many of the 170k English words do you know?
251–260 of 575 posts
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#252Was excited to take the test, even at 100 words, until I realized I had to manually click every input.
Test could be completed in 1/5 of the time if the user could use numeral keys [1, 2, 3, 4] plus "enter" to input selections instead of the cursor.
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#253I wish the option was just “yes I know this word” or “no I don’t”. Reading the definitions takes too long for so many words
I (native American English speaker, college prep school educated) had 5 words that I thought I knew, but still got wrong:
obsequious
laconic
sanguine
quotidian
enervate
On the other hand, I was able to correctly guess these words that I'd never seen before:
omphaloskepsis
crepuscular
absquatulate
callipygian
houghmagandy
quire
And then there were these, which were just totally foreign to me:
hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
nudiustertian
ergophobia
tittynope
Final estimate: ~73000 words
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#254It seems like the right answer is usually the longest of the choices, I managed to get a few just by picking the longest. It would also be nice if there was a "I don't know" instead of guessing and skewing the results by getting it right, though maybe thats accounted for
> It seems like the right answer is usually the longest of the choices You are correct. I tested that hypothesis about a dozen times and it seems that if you always pick the longest you’ll get it right somewhere in the high 70s to mid 80s. For anyone interested in testing for themselves, open the website to the first question then run this in the console (not going to spend time optimising it, it works well enough fo…
cool
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#255Meh. The UX should be able to simply have the selection indicate it is the choice rather than having to submit it too. It's too cumbersome to click through...
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#256[deleted]
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#257It should be possible to respond "I don't know". When you really-really don't know, it's unfair to get a 1/4 chance at right anyway, or even better if you use routine multiple-choice tactics. I got credit for a few that I would have happily just missed.
Agreed, there were also a few where I deduced the correct definition by comparing the options.
Yeah, I way overperformed on this test because it was multiple choice. There were 11 words I didn't know at all, and another 8 where I was uncertain to varying degrees. My score of 99/100 does not reflect my actual ability. Even the one I got wrong was a misclick.
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought that one was pretty well known. But then, I can also rattle off Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch at will.
But why? say what you like about antidisestablishmentarianism; at least it's an ethos
Somebody obviously coined the word as a self-referential joke. And somehow it stuck. That makes it memorable.
Speaking of things that stick... arachibutyrophobia is the feat of getting peanut putter stuck to the roof of your mouth. (I admit I had to look that one up, as it's not nearly as memorable, though I knew the word existed).
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#259I got 75k words, which I’m happy with as a non-native speaker. Others here have also mentioned that the math may be off and that you can juice the game by looking at how answers are phrased etc.
I do wonder how much of these were “what AI thinks are hard words to know” vs. actually hard to know.
Re: How many of the 170k English words do you know?
#260In addition to everything everyone else has said: their math is off by half (or 100%, depending on how you count), due to a structural error. (context: native English speaker, big reader, huge nerd, perfect SAT score) I got all 100 correct on the first try without looking anything up! Confusingly, that only resulted in a "SCIENTIFIC ESTIMATE" that I know 85,000/~170,000 words? Their "How is this calculated" page that…
It was clearly built with AI.