How the words are checked

An answer key is only useful if it is right. A wrong article or a missing accent on a key costs a teacher time and a pupil marks, so every word on this site goes through the same checks before it reaches a sheet.

Two dictionaries, two publishers

Every word is confirmed in two dictionaries from different publishers, and the exact entries are recorded beside it. A word found in only one, or where the two disagree, is left out rather than guessed. The record of what was left out, and why, is kept with each list.

Grammar is part of the word

Nouns are stored with their article and gender, and with their plural where it is irregular or changes the article. Words taught without an article, such as the months, are printed without one. Where regions use different words, the form most classrooms teach is printed on the pupils’ sheet and both forms are given on the answer key.

A full read before a list goes live

Each list is then read in full, word by word, before it is marked checked. That read has already caught real faults: months stored with a mis-elided article, two answers for one clue on a matching sheet, a clock picture showing the wrong time. Only lists marked checked reach a sheet.

What is checked today

Pictures

Pictures come from OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0), with a few classroom and clothes items drawn for this site in the same style. Each picture was looked at against its word, so a matching sheet never shows two words with the same picture.

Found a mistake?

Email hello@digitalsignet.com with the word and the source you would check it against, and we will look at it the same way. About Language Sheets.