Words-whether written or spoken-are the building blocks of communication. Depending on how they're used, words have the power to inform or confuse, incite or diffuse, inspire or deflate.

A common misconception about words is that bigger is always better. Anyone who has read and appreciated the simple power of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address knows that this is not always true. Still, it is generally thought that the greater a person's vocabulary, the greater their capacity for thoughtful expression.

Places To Go

Little Explorers Picture Dictionary
The Little Explorers Picture Dictionary contains 1,821 illustrated dictionary entries. Small surfers simply need to click on a letter of the to see a page of words that start with that letter. Since the pictures are links, even pre-readers can surf with a minimum of help and guidance from their favorite adult, and older kids can use Little Explorers as a school reference.

Merriam-Webster Online Language Center
This site is an online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus. It also contains funny word-builder activities and a word of the day.

Word Central
Here's a handy student's version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary, complete with pronunciations and definitions of thousands of words. Visitors can build their own dictionaries or play any of the fun word games and activities. For those who like to learn and spell new and unusual words, there's the Daily Buzzword and challenging words from the national spelling bee.

The Devil's Dictionary
This is the online version of the dictionary of saucy and cynical definitions composed by American journalist and short story writer Ambrose Bierce. Love, for example, is defined as "A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder."

Noah Webster and America's First Dictionary
Learn about the man who published the first truly American dictionary. 

Richard Lederer's Verbivore
This is the website for celebrated wordaholic Richard Lederer. According to the site's introduction, "Carnivores eat meat; herbivores eat plants and vegetables; verbivores devour words. If you are heels over head (as well as head over heels) in love with words, tarry here awhile to graze or, perhaps, feast on the English language."

Word Play: Sites that Feature Fun with Words
If you're fascinated by language, check out this extensive list of sites devoted to acronyms, homonyms, slang, jargon, and a host of other linguistic amusements and oddities.

Vocabulary University
Students can strengthen their vocabulary through the use of puzzles and an assortment of other word activities.

Vocab Vitamins
Simple and thoughtful tools to expand your vocabulary for effective communication in the English language.  For writers, readers, those with an urgent need for test preparation (SAT, GRE, and any exam with a verbal component), and everyday people with a penchant for delivering the full range of their thoughts to the world around them.

Greek and Latin Roots
Improve vocabulary and reading comprehension by becoming more familiar with some basic Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Discovery School's Puzzlemaker
Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword and math puzzles using your word lists. Build your own maze or print our specialty hand-drawn mazes created around holidays and classroom topics.

Commonly Confused Words
Words that sound alike or nearly alike but have different meanings often cause writers trouble. This site features a few of the most common pairs with correct definitions and examples.

Doublespeak Proverbs
The following proverb brainteasers also represent well known facts . . . old sayings that have been relied on for hundreds of years. You've probably used these proverbs, or at least have heard them used at some point in your life. But for this brainteaser quiz, they have been re-written using BIG WORDS that mean essentially the same thing, but sound a whole lot different.

RhymeZone
Check out this language arts reference tool and comprehensive search engine that includes a rhyming dictionary, a thesaurus, and a cool search engine that enables you to search for references to a particular word in the works of Shakespeare, the Bible, and other sources. 

Click and Drag Poetry
This online version of refrigerator magnets allows you to experiment with words. Sometimes the results can be quite poetic!

100 Most Common SAT Words
At this site students can match words commonly found on SAT tests with definitions in a series of interactive games.

KinderRead
This tour will take you through some reading concepts children should learn in Kindergarten. 

ABC Teach Printable Crossword Puzzles
Elementary school teachers can find printable crosswords on a variety of topics at this site. It also has a link to a site where you can make your own crosswords.

Educator's Reference Desk Vocabulary Lesson Plans
A variety of vocabulary-related lesson plans.

Educator's Reference Desk Spelling Lesson Plans
Lessons related to spelling skills

Spelling Strategies
The strategies at this site are practical, workable ways to help children remember words that are difficult for them. The strategies vary in complexity. Check the links on the left to see the specific strategies appropriate for each grade.\

Fooling with Words
This website is the online companion to the PBS Series "Fooling with Words" in which narrator Bill Moyers probes poets about the intimate process of making their experiences into art. The online version also presents helpful tools for teaching poetry, including lesson plans, a teacher's guide, and links to a variety of online poetry resources.

• Brantley, Cynthia and Cynthia Johnson. The Princeton Review Word Smart Junior: Build a Straight 'A' Vocabulary/Grades 6-8. Random House, 1995.
•  Brantley, Cynthia and Cynthia Johnson. Word Smart Junior II: More Straight-A Vocabulary. Princeton Review, 1997.
  Burchers, Sam et al. Vocabulary Cartoons: Building an Educated Vocabulary With Visual Mnemonics. New Monic Books, 1998.
• Burchers, Sam et al. Vocabulary Cartoons II: Building an Educated Vocabulary with Sight and Sound Memory Aids. New Monic Books, 2000.
• Degross, Monalisa. Donovan's Word Jar. HarperCollins Children's Books, 1994.
• Falwell, Cathryn. Word Wizard. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998.
• Hubbard, L. Ron. How to Use a Dictionary: Picture Book for Children. Effective Education Publishing, 2000.
• Kauffman, Dorothy et al. The Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas. Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Lederer, Richard. The Circus of Words. Chicago Review Press, 2001.
• Lederer, Richard. The Play of Words: Fun & Games for Language Lovers. Pocket Books, 1991.
• Lederer, Richard. Pun and Games: Jokes, Riddles, Rhymes, Daffynitions, Tairy Fales, and More Wordplay for Kids. Chicago Review Press, 1996.
• Meltzer, Tom. Illustrated Word Smart: A Visual Vocabulary Builder. Princeton Review, 2000.
• Moyers, Bill D. Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and their Craft. Harperperennial Library, 2000.
• Robinson, Adam. Word Smart: Building an Educated Vocabulary. Villard Books, 1993.
• Robinson, Adam. Word Smart II: How to Build a More Educated Vocabulary. Villard Books, 1992.