A clean version of the ENABLE word list (or lexicon), designed for family-friendly games and projects. The main word list contains over 172,000 words!
Re-Enable is a public, profanity-free word list. It's a carefully cleaned-up version of the well-known ENABLE list, which stands for "Enhanced North American Benchmark LExicon." Originally compiled in the 1990s as a curated collection of words for Scrabble and other word games, it was a free alternative to official, copyrighted word lists. It is the result of a long process of compilation and review by word-game experts and linguists. Because of its origin date, the list may not include many newer words that have entered the English language in the last two decades.
While other clean versions exist, such as the one used for Words With Friends, they aren't publicly available for you to use in your own projects. Re-Enable was created to be the go-to resource for anyone who needs a dependable, family-friendly word list for their games, apps, and other projects.
The main word list is found in re-enable.txt.
As it's based on the ENABLE list, Re-Enable follows its core rules:
- No proper nouns (e.g., names, places).
- No abbreviations.
- No words with spaces, hyphens, or apostrophes.
- No one-letter words.
- No words with foreign letters.
- No obscure or archaic words (words that are no longer in common use or are highly specialized).
With a list this large, mistakes are bound to happen. Some profane words may have been accidentally left in, and some non-profane words may have been removed. We've removed over 400 words, but we've also adopted a nuanced policy to handle complex cases.
- Strictly profane words are removed entirely from the list. If a word is only used for its profane meaning, it's out.
- Words moved to
unfiltered.txtare words that have a valid, non-profane meaning but are often used in a profane or otherwise non-child-friendly way. We made this choice so you can decide for yourself whether to include them in your project. - Non-offensive words with an offensive context are left in the main list. For example, a word that has a legitimate, everyday meaning but is only offensive in a very specific context is kept.
We rely on the community to help us keep the list accurate. The more people who use and review this list, the cleaner it will get.
If you believe a word shouldn't be in the list, please open an issue or pull request. To maintain a clean and respectful issue tracker, please use a general title like "Suggested word removal" and do not mention the word in the title.
If you find a word that is missing and follows the core principles of the list, feel free to open an issue to suggest it. This helps us ensure that all additions align with the project's standards.