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Deadline: Thursday, April 18th

Here at Writer’s Relief, we really love words, so we decided to create our own version of “Balderdash.” Writer’s Relief staff members each turned in a word with its real definition and three made-up ones. Take our interactive vocabulary quiz: Can you find the real definition among the three fake definitions? After you take the quiz, we’ll show you which ones you got right and reveal the real definitions for the ones you got wrong. Have fun—and no cheating!

[wpsqt name=”Vocab Quiz” type=”quiz”]

After you receive your results, leave a comment and let us know how many points you got!

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83 Comments

  1. Rachel

    Some interesting words and a few surprising definitions – nice one. 15 out of 22 right

    Reply
  2. Shelver506

    17! I’m pleased, as many of correct answers that I missed were my second choice.

    Reply
  3. Michele

    Well I’ve no clue what my score is – when I click on the “Download certification” link (which I assume will give me my results), I get an error message: No DocRaptor API key! Please alert the site owner to fix this!

    Reply
    • Writers Relief Staff

      Michele, there was a slight link error for some users, but it’s since been fixed! Go ahead and click “Submit” at the bottom of the post to receive your results!

      Reply
  4. Scott Wood

    17; I might have to look up the latin derivative as reference for one of my incorrect choices: callipygian. I couldn’t recall Antony saying any such thing to Cleopatra.

    Reply
  5. Sarah

    22 correct. I love vocabulary words – the stranger the better… 🙂

    Reply
  6. AntonK

    17/22. I’m happy. I did notice a bit of mis-match regarding grammatic form. Eg. “egregious” is an adjective and the correct answer is a noun, “mistake”. Have I missed something?

    Reply
    • Writers Relief Staff

      Anton, thanks for the catch. We’ve since corrected this “egregious” error! (That’s a hint for the rest of you quiz-takers!)

      Reply
  7. Lana

    15 out of 22 not bad- I love words too- how about:

    Defenestrate

    Borborygmus

    or
    Humumunukunukapawaa

    Reply
  8. SoosSpike

    Fifteen. Yayyyy! But I only knew six; the others were process of elimination stuff, or just wild guesses.

    Reply
  9. Patricia Anne Elford

    18/22. Toyed with one other answer that came close. Couldn’t believe the correct answer to one of them!

    Reply
  10. Stephanie

    13 out of 22….that’s okay, because I teach ESL, and I think I’m losing my touch with speaking my own language — though several of these words weren’t derived from English anyway. Like Shelver506, most of the ones I missed were 50/50 with my answer vs. the correct answer.

    Reply
  11. Mel

    I managed to get 16. Considering the questions’ desire to obfucate, I was pleased.

    Reply
  12. Judy French

    18 out of 22! Not bad for Monday brain

    Reply
  13. Judy

    Fun! Got 15 out of 22 right.

    Reply
  14. Carol Mann

    Great words. Loved the creative choices 🙂 18 out of 22.

    Reply
  15. Mary Koral

    18 correct. Did not look any up. Lots of fun.

    Reply
  16. Hannah

    13…..! Need to work on my vocabulary….

    Reply
  17. Penny

    16 I’m happy with that, these were interesting words!

    Reply
  18. Stutteringhand

    17 out of 22. Fun quiz, I learned some new words.

    Reply
  19. Gail Eisenhart

    17 out of 22 — and missed a couple I should have known.

    Reply
  20. Patricia Anne Elford

    Thank you, Anton K. That difference in part of speech left me puzzled too!

    Reply
  21. Mishael Austin Witty

    19 out of 22 … not too shabby.

    Reply
  22. Ellen

    16/22 – ick. I need to read more; the ones I missed I’ve never come across!

    Reply
  23. Barbara Collins golding

    Great fun. 14 out of 22 was better than I expected

    Reply
  24. Margaret Garside

    I got nineteen out of twenty-two. Not bad, considering I took a guess at a couple. Words don’t always mean what you think they do! I think this little exercise shows that fancy vocabulary should be used judiciously-and keep the dictionary handy.

    Reply
  25. Lou

    17 out of 22, not bad at all

    Reply
  26. Elaine

    I got 13, which may be low for a writer, but it’s probably better than the average adult. I write for children, so I wouldn’t use words like this anyway. It was a fun quiz.

    Reply
  27. Valerie Stokes

    14 out of 22 correct. I really thought that I was going to get only one or two wrong. I had to guess at some, but I thought I chose correctly by knowing the root words. It definitely was a lot of fun!

    Reply
  28. MM

    Only 19 correct – I’m slipping!

    Reply
    • Writers Relief Staff

      MM, 19 is great! We’re so glad everyone is enjoying our quiz!

      Reply
  29. Jennifer

    12 Some I knew, some I guessed at, but I had fun and learned!

    Reply
  30. Lynda Dickson

    18 correct. Very hard words. Guessed some.

    Reply
  31. Barry

    15 out of 22. Fun quiz!

    Reply
  32. Robert C Hargreaves

    18-not bad for a chicken doctor

    Reply
  33. NYL

    18/22! That was really fun. Got tripped up by “callipygian” xD

    Reply
  34. Jenny Tavernier

    21 of 22. Loved the “faux” defs – often more fitting I think than the correct one, in today’s context. lol! Callipygian nearly got me – recognizing the root, but was 1st thinking calligraphy – so it would have suggested WRITING from the posterior, which I have seen examples of. Is there a word for THAT? lol!

    Reply
  35. hoan

    19. I had fun. Thanks.

    Reply
  36. Ty

    17 correct. That was fun! And just a bit crazy.

    Reply
  37. stfrisco

    Twenty. But that doesn’t mean I can use those words, only that I can recognize them. On top of which, a number of Russian friends have shown me it’s sometimes more important to know how to use the word “the” than to have a vocabulary that mystifies most people.

    Reply
  38. Fay

    Good way to learn odd words. Got 17!

    Reply
  39. Diane M. Robinson

    14 correct–that’s more than I thought I’d get. Good fun!

    Reply
  40. Steen

    19! “Dactyliography” is tricky, given the roots. Well, the word I mean, but I’m sure the thing itself is, as well.

    Reply
  41. Rich S.

    15 correct out of 22. Been a long time out of school, just took an educated guess.

    Reply
  42. Mary Diane Hausman

    18/22– what fun but frustrating. I’m pleasantly surprised I got some of the ones I did. Credit goes to Amelia Peabody for my knowledge of Schadenfreude.

    Reply
  43. Amyna

    Enjoyed that – thanks! 19/22

    Reply
  44. Writers Relief Staff

    Posted on behalf of J.F.
    I got 17 right on the vocabulary test. I hoped for 100% but 17 seems adequate.

    Reply
  45. Rafa

    15/22. Being that my English stinks, that’s quite a score. Now, Spanish has closer links with Latin and Greek so I recognized most of them. Fun and enlightening quiz. Nothing wrong with spicing the story, here and there, with some stimulant words. Just be awared that it is like decorating. If you are not going to do it right, better don’t do it.

    Reply
  46. Chris

    15
    Whenever our group of friends get together for game night, it usually includes Balderdash. May the best bluff win.

    Reply
  47. Judith Robl

    19 – DRAT! I hoped to do better. Anyway, it was fun.

    Reply
  48. david eastmond

    18 correct. quite an interesting quiz. not sure if i am proud of this or , should i lament my life in books. oh well, thanks for the diversion.

    Reply
  49. Daniel Jesson

    19/22
    Quite pleased with that, although I did guess a few. Worked out a lot of them just by looking at the roots.

    Reply
  50. Constance

    18 out of 22. A few I should have deduced better, but not too shabby for my first task of the day.

    Reply
  51. Faye Newman

    I enjoyed that– and missed 5. So I scored 17/22, and I’m disappointed. Some I thought I knew, others totally foreign to me.

    Reply
    • Writers Relief Staff

      Faye, no need to be disappointed! They don’t call them obscure for nothing—17/22 is a great score. Thanks for participating!

      Reply
  52. Joanne

    16 right. I guessed quite a few of them. Vocabulary is not my thing. But, this was fun.

    Reply
  53. Liz Elias

    Fun! I got 18 out of the 22 correct, and that included some words I’d never heard of. Growing up with a mother who loved reading and “getting lost” in the dictionary, (so do I), I have a pretty good sense of words and their roots, so I was able to suss out most of the unfamiliar words.

    Reply
  54. Evelyn Hampton

    I’m also 18 out of 22. Not too shabby, I guess!

    Reply
  55. Jessica

    14 out of 22. Pretty good seeing as I had only heard of 4 of them.

    Reply
  56. Merita King

    18 – wow that was a shock to do so well. Most were lucky guesses. Fun blog, thank you.

    Reply
  57. Jami Gray

    18/22 not bad considering…

    Reply
  58. Aly

    18/22 … great fun, I did better than I expected 🙂

    Reply
  59. Elizabeth Black

    21 out of 22. Not bad. The one I missed was callipygian, which I should have gotten since I have one. 🙂

    Reply
  60. Andrew Kalnik

    Missedtwo. Great way to get rid of arrogant expectations.

    Reply
  61. Robin Lythgoe

    20 out of 22! I did better than I thought I might. This was fun, and the “wrong” choices were creative and amusing.

    Reply
  62. Diane Ramirez

    That was fun! Interesting words and definitions. Got 15 out of 22, thought I’d get a lot more incorrect! Thanks for the brain challenge.

    Reply
  63. Paul Michel

    21 of 22, before coffee! By the way we sorely need a word for “Christmas Eve for a walrus.” Or at least a poem of that name. Or a choreography?

    Reply
  64. Carolyn Light Bell

    Took it a second time to see if I’d learned and I got them all right but one: mysticism…It was mightily cystic.

    Reply
  65. Kel

    14. Could have done better if went with first instinct. Oh well.

    Reply
  66. Ed Wicke

    21. That evil egregious word!

    Reply
  67. Anum

    14 …

    Reply
  68. Julie Israel

    19/22 for me. Many thanks for the new words…I feel a re-tweet coming on!

    Reply
  69. Bob Clark

    Finally got around to taking the quiz and the only one I missed was the butt answer. That’s because I am a leg man. Honestly,I was amazed that I got so many.

    Reply
  70. Frank

    Total Points: 14 correct out of 22. I’m amazed I did that well.

    Reply
  71. Lisa

    17 of 22. Should have gone with gut instincts on a couple of them. Under 5 minutes w/out looking up any.

    Reply
  72. Margaret Reardon

    19. But I’m sleepy!

    Reply
  73. madicienne

    19/22; not too shabby, though a few were educated guesses (and the few I got wrong were woefully so)! What a fun quiz! Now to attempt using the new words in sentences…

    Reply
    • Writers Relief Staff

      That’s great, Madicienne! 🙂

      Reply
  74. Hushhhh

    21 of 22!! Woohoo!

    Reply
  75. Karen

    I’m right in there with the 17 correct group. Not bad after having my head in research about digestion all day.

    Perfect way to change gears at the end of the day. Thanks!

    Reply
  76. Marty

    Well I am too embarrassed to admit my low score. Time to hit the dictionary I think…

    Reply
  77. HawHagen

    Judging by the comments, I’m below average to average, 15/22

    Reply

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