My favourite online dictionary

This is my favourite online dictionary and I think it should be yours too. This is why:

• Spelling - you can find a word even if you don't know how to spell it exactly. Just type in the first three letters into the box.
• Pronunciation - we know that a word can have different spelling and pronunciation in English. You can see the phonetic symbols which tell us the sound of the word, or you can just click  and hear how it should sound.

Click here for an interactive phonetic chart for the sounds of English

• Different word forms - I know the word 'take' but I do I spell the -ing form? Is it 'taking' or 'takeing'? If you click on  it will tell you all the five verb forms: take, takes, took, taken, taking. If you check the adjective 'happy' it will give you 'happier' and 'happiest'. If you check the noun 'person' you will find the plural is 'people'.
• Red words and stars  What are red words? 90% of the time, speakers of English use just 7,500 words in speech and writing. These words appear in red, and are graded with stars. One-star words are frequent, two-star words are more frequent, and three-star words are the most frequent.
• Collocations - In Italian they 'make' a question (fare una domanda), in German they 'stand' a question (eine Frage stellen), but in English we ask a question. If you want to know the correct collocation for a word, look at the examples:

Collocations: problem

▪  [adj + problem]    big, fundamental, important, major, real, serious

▪  [verb + problem]    cause, create, experience, face, overcome, solve

• Synonyms - do you need to find a word with a similar meaning? Click on 'View thesaurus entry for'

Feeling happy: glad, pleased, content, satisfied, contented, cheerful, carefree, exuberant