The 12dicts package is a collection of English word lists. They are different from other word lists which you can download from the Internet in the following ways:
They are relatively small lists of relatively common words.
They have been carefully proof-read, and as a result are nearly error-free.
The lists differ in size and in the sorts of words they contain, allowing you to select one appropriate for a particular use.
Most of the lists are public domain; the remainder are limited in their use in only minor ways.
I developed 12dicts about ten years ago out of dissatisfaction with the resources available on the Internet at that time; practically all lists I found were either enormous or of poor quality, and not infrequently both. One of the original goals of 12dicts was to approximate a core vocabulary for English, which led me to the modus operandi of taking words from a set of twelve ESL and desk dictionaries. As time passed, I expanded 12dicts to include more lists, which mostly were not derived from the original dictionary set. However, all of the lists used essentially the same methodology - that of establishing a set of sources, and then including all words found in at least n of the sources, for some value of n.
I consider 12dicts to have been very successful. It has been used in applications ranging from word games to literacy programs. It has influenced a body of open-source software, including the aspell spelling checker and the OpenOffice.org Writer.
I have now completed Release 5 of 12dicts, which adds two new lists to the package: a lemmatized list, dividing the vocabulary of previously released lists into sets of closely related words, along with a rearrangement of these lemmas into bands based on their frequency of use. Release 5 of 12dicts can be downloaded here. As with the previous versions, your comments and suggestions are welcomed, and I would be pleased to learn how 12dicts is being used.
To
comment on this page,
e-mail Alan at wyrdplay.org