Common Word Checker powered by Wordnik.com
Today we released a new one page site powered by Wordnik – All the words.
This awesome tool is a Common Word Checker that helps writers choose common words for their blogs, emails and articles. Using a small vocabulary helps young readers, skimmers and non-native English readers grasp meaning more quickly.
The idea for a Common Word Checker came to me years ago when I was employed by a Chicago-based company that worked with Japanese engineers. We wrote simple instructions for the Japanese engineers to avoid miscommunication. One Chicago employee could not figure out how to simplify his writing and frequently used difficult words like “facetious” and “edification”. I rewrote his notes to make it friendlier to non-native English speakers. The Common Word Checker automatically suggests better word choices, thus eliminating rework by others.
This is a great tool for bloggers with a global following. For example, running the Common Word Checker on two widely read blogs, www.whitehouse.gov/blog and www.copyblogger.com, show they rely upon a simple vocabulary.
The Common Word Checker spots seldom used words and suggests more common words. We use the Wordnik API corpus frequency data, related words and examples methods. First the input text is parsed and each word’s corpus frequency is retrieved. Second, if the word’s frequency is below the commonality strictness setting, then synonyms are retrieved. Each synonym with a higher frequency than the word will appear as a suggestion for the user. The examples API method is used to check if a low frequency word is actually a misspelled word.
Thanks to Wordnik for the great API!
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