Hard-to-find words

This page lists words which might appear to be invalid but actually are valid. It is, of course, not exhaustive.

• AEOLIC, EOLIC: Headwords are capitalised, but definition 2 of the adjective says "usually with lower-case initial".
• AMBERS: Searching directs to amber (mass noun), but it is not a mass noun under ambeer.
• AWENDA, AWENDAS, AWENDAW, AWENDAWS, OWENDAW, OWENDAWS: Headwords are capitalised, but definition says "also with lower-case initial".
• BRICKWALL, BRICKWALLS: Headword is two words, but definition 1 says "often written as one word".
• DADDED, DADDING: Searching does not direct, but DAD is listed as a verb under the second entry for daud.
• EMPED, EMPING, EMPS, ENT, ENTED, ENTING, HEMPED, HEMPING: Searching does not direct, but EMP, ENT and HEMP are listed as verbs under empt.
• FARSE, FARSER, FARSEST: Alternative spelling of definition 7 of the adjective fast.
• FINELINER, FINELINERS: Headword is two words, but definition 2 says "often as one word". [1]
• GINNELLED, GINNELLING: Searching does not direct, but GINNEL is listed as a verb under the second entry for ginnle.
• HEADCAP, HEADCAPS: Headword is two words, but definition 3 says "usually as one word". [2]
• HYDROGENSULPHATE, HYDROGENSULPHATES: Headword is two words, but definition says "frequently as one word".
• ISCHIA: Searching directs to Ischia (capitalised), but is listed uncapitalised as the plural of ischium.
• JIMMY: Searching directs to Jimmy (capitalised), but is listed uncapitalised as an alternative spelling of jemmy.
• KINGSMAN, KINGSMEN: Headword is two words, but definition 5 and 6 say "usually as one word". [3]
• LAGOBIS: Searching does not direct, but can be found in bold under the adjective leggo.
• LAGOS: Searching directs to Lagos (capitalised), but it is listed under leggo.
• LEGO, LEGOS: Searching directs to Lego (capitalised), but it is listed under leggo.
• MAUGERS, MAUGERED, MAUGERING: Searching does not direct to maugre where its variant spellings (as a verb) can be found in second entry.
• MEDALISE, MEDALLISE: Searching does not direct to medallize unless MEDALIZE or MEDALLIZE are searched instead. MEDALISE and MEDALLISE have to be allowed on Countdown as per rule that says -ISE variant spellings of verbs ending in -IZE need not be specified.
• MILLERED: The verb MILLER is listed as a variant spelling of MILLER.
• MOULES: Searching directs to the entry for "moules marinière", however searching for the singular brings up a separate dictionary entry for MOULE. This can be pluralised with the addition of an s according to standard Countdown rules.
• MUNSTER, MUNSTERS: Searching directs to Munster (capitalised), but it is uncapitalised under muenster.
• NIBBING: Searching does not direct, but NIB is listed as a verb under neeb.
• NIMBY, NIMBIES: Searching directs to Nimby (capitalised), but it is uncapitalised under nembie.
• OBO, OBOS: Searching directs to obo (abbreviation), but it is listed under obbo.
• ORARIAN: Headword is capitalised, but definition says "chiefly with lower-case initial".
• PATAGON, PATAGONS: Searching directs to Patagon (capitalised), but it is uncapitalised under patacon.
• PENITENTE, PENITENTES: Headword is capitalised, but definition 2 says "with lower-case initial". [4]
• PETRAEAN: Searching directs to Petraean (capitalised), but it is uncapitalised under petrean.
• PETTIES: Searching for petty directs to the adjective, but it is listed as a noun under petti.
• PHOTURIS: Capitalised, but also listed in bold without an initial capital letter in the definition.
• QUARKED, QUARKING, QUORKED, QUORKING, QUORKS, QUOUKED, QUOUKING, QUOUKS: Searching does not direct to the verb, to quark (the sound of a bird, as opposed to the subatomic particle).
• ROMANITE, ROMANITES: Searching directs to Romanite (capitalised), but it is uncapitalised under rumanite.
• SPRANGS: Searching does not direct, but SPRANG is listed as a noun under sprong.
• WATERHEAD, WATERHEADS: Headword is two words, but definition 1 says "now chiefly in as one word".
• WATERSTOP, WATERSTOPS: Headword is two words, but definition 1 says "usually as one word".
• WEBFOOT, WEBFEET: Headword is two words, but definition 2 and 3 say "chiefly as one word".
• ZEMIROT, ZMIROT: Searching does not direct to zemirah, where the plural is specified (in bold, in Oxford Dictionaries Premium) in the definition. ZMIRAH can only be found in Premium, and the logical plural of that spelling is assumed ZMIROT (similarly, HEDERS and HEDARIM are assumed the plurals of HEDER because of CHEDER taking CHEDERS and CHEDARIM).