“That’s not a word!” How to settle word disputes at the game table

Someone lays down a word. Someone else frowns. “Is that even a word?” Within a minute, the game has turned into a debate. A few house rules, agreed before the first tile is played, prevent most of these moments.

1. Pick one reference before you start

Disputes are rarely about the word itself. They are about which dictionary counts. Decide together, before the game, what settles a challenge: one printed dictionary, one app, one website. Then nobody argues with the referee.

Keep in mind that competitive play in many languages uses its own official word lists, maintained by game federations. A general dictionary will not always agree with them. For a family game, any clear, shared reference is fine. What matters is that it is the same for everyone.

2. Agree on what kinds of words count

Most groups allow:

• plurals and conjugated forms (cats, walked, running), as long as the base word is valid;
• words in the dictionary of the game’s language, including uncommon ones.

And most groups refuse:

• proper nouns (names of people, places, brands);
• abbreviations and acronyms;
• words with hyphens or apostrophes, since they cannot be laid down as tiles.

Write your choices down once, and you will never debate them again.

3. Decide what a challenge costs

A challenge should have a price, or every word gets challenged. A common rule: if the word is valid, the challenger loses their next turn; if it is not, the player takes their tiles back and scores nothing.

4. Check fast, and show everyone

The longer the check, the colder the game. Check the word in front of everyone, on a screen the whole table can read, and move on. If several words were formed in one move, check them all at once.

5. Keep a list of the words you learned

The best disputes end with a new word. Note the surprising ones: they make great comebacks next time, and they are the real reward of word games.

A quick referee for your phone

We built Lexiko for exactly this moment: type the words of a play and it says, in large letters, whether each one is in the dictionary, with its definition and its points. It works in seven languages and uses open dictionaries, so it says “in the dictionary”, never “officially valid”. Lexiko is coming soon to the App Store.