iWordGuru Unscrambler User Guide
https://www.mnemosynch.net/word-games-word-puzzles-helper-user-guide/unscrambler/
This is the user guide for the Unscrambler (Anagram Solver, Word Scrambler Solver) in iWordGuru (Word Games Word Puzzles Helper). User guides for other word finders and solvers in iWordGuru can be found at https://www.mnemosynch.net/word-games-word-puzzles-helper-user-guide/.
With iWordGuru Unscrambler, a user enters a set of letters (including any number of wildcards) and the solver finds all the words that can be made from the set of jumbled letters (including the wildcards) and subsets of the letters. The solver is the go-to word finding mechanism for many popular word games such as Scrabble and Words with Friends (WWF).
Unscrambler (Anagram Solver, Word Scramble Solver) operation instructions:
At the Unscrambler page, follow the procedure below to enter letters and unscramble letters.
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- (optional) Select the dictionary. The default dictionary is the 2022 Scrabble US dictionary. You may change it to Scrabble UK or ENABLE (the dictionary for WWF) by tapping the dictionary dropdown button. For the unscrambler to be effective, the dictionary must be selected properly, for example, Scrabble US for US-based scrabble games, Scrabble UK for UK-based scrabble games, and ENABLE for Words with Friends. Any of these dictionaries should work well for other word games that use more common words.
- If the input box (the box right below the dictionary dropdown button with hint: ‘<Enter letters…>’) is deactivated (the border of the box is grey), then tap the box to activate it (the border should be blue when activated).
- Tap letters in the keyboard to enter them to be unscrambled. The letters may include any number of wildcards (‘?‘). The letters can be entered in any order.
- After 2 letters (a wildcard is considered to be a letter) are entered, the grey ‘GET READY’ key will turn into a green ‘UNSCRAMBLE’ key. You may continue to enter more letters or tap the green ‘UNSCRAMBLE’ key to unscramble letters in the input box. This will lead to the unscramble results page that contains all the words found.
The following are the special keys on the keyboard:
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- ‘CLEAR’: removes all letters in the active field (input box or an optional filter input field)
- ‘HELP’: launches the browser to show this Unscrambler user guide.
- ‘GET READY’: The grey ‘GET READY’ key is informational and has no effects. After 2 letters are entered, this key will turn into a green ‘UNSCRAMBLE’ key.
- ‘UNSCRAMBLE’: The green ‘UNSCRAMBLE’ key appears after the second letter is entered (the Unscrambler is ready to unscramble the letters in the input box). When the green ‘UNSCRMBLE’ key appears, you can either continue to enter more letters or tap the green ‘UNSCRMBLE’ key to unscramble letters in the input box and see all words found in the unscramble results page.
From the Unscrambler page, you can tap the arrow at the left of the App Bar on the top of the page to return to the main menu.
Unscrambler use case examples:
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- Unscramble letters ‘ARETS’, the Unscrambler will find all words that use all or some of the letters such as RATES, STARE, …, ARTS, SEAT, ….
- Unscramble letters ‘ARETS??’, the Unscrambler will find all words that use all or some of the letters including the two wildcards such as ABATERS, ABREAST, ACTRESS, …, ABASER, … (the orange letters are from the wildcards as such letters are shown in the results page in the app)
Filters: Filters are optional, they are used to narrow down the words to have certain properties. However, as will be shown in the examples later, since this unscrambler supports any number of wildcards, combining that with the filters enables many advanced word finding capabilities. The Unscrambler supports five filters, three pattern filters and two letter filters.
To enter filters, tap the filter input field to activate it and then tap the letters on the keyboard to enter them.
Pattern filters:
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- Pattern filter ‘Begins with’ specifies the beginning pattern of the matched words. Consider the above unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example. If the ‘Begins with’ filter is ‘S’, then the unscrambler will find STARE and SEAT, but not RATES and ARTS. Pattern filters can contain wildcards. For example, the ‘Begins with’ filter of ‘S??T’ says that the first letter is an ‘S’, the fourth letter is a ‘T’, and the second and third letter can be anything. In the above unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example, with this filter, the unscrambler will find the word SEAT, but not RATES, START, and ARTS.
- Pattern filter ‘Contains’ specifies a pattern that the matched words must contain. In the above unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example, if the ‘Contains’ pattern filter is ‘AR’, the Unscrambler will find words STARE and ARTS, but not RATES and SEAT. The filter can contain wildcards as well. In the unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example, if the ‘Contains’ filter is ‘T?R’, the unscrambler will find STARE, but not RATES, SEAT, and ARTS.
- Pattern filter ‘Ends with’ specifies the ending pattern of the matched words. In the above unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example, if the ‘Ends with’ filter is ‘S’, then the unscrambler will find RATES and ARTS, but not STARE and SEAT. The ‘Ends with’ filter of ‘R?S’ says that the last letter is an ‘S’, the third last letter is a ‘R’, and the second last letter can be anything. In the above unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example, with this ‘Ends with’ filter, the unscrambler will find the word ARTS, but not STARE, RATES, and SEAT.
Letter filters
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- Letter filter ‘Includes Letters’ specifies the letters that must be included in the words. The letters may be repeated and can be entered in any order. For example, the ‘Include Letters’ filter ‘AAAB’ is equivalent to ‘AABA’, both say that the word must have 3 A’s and one B. Consider the above unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example. If the ‘Include Letters’ filter is ‘ER’, then the unscrambler will find STARE and RATES, but not SEAT and ARTS.
- Letter filter ‘Excludes Letters’ specifies the letters that must be excluded in the words. The letters may be repeated (but repeated letters are the same as one letter) and can be entered in any order. For example, the ‘Excludes Letters’ filter ‘AAAB’ is equivalent to ‘BA’, both say that the word cannot have letters A and B. Consider the above unscrambling ‘ARETS’ example. If the ‘Exclude Letters’ filter is ‘R’, then the unscrambler will find SEAT, but not STARE, RATES, and ARTS. If the ‘Exclude Letters’ filter is ‘ER’, then the unscrambler will NOT find any of STARE, RATES, SEAT, and ARTS.
This unscrambler allows users to have any number of wildcards. This creates unique opportunities to perform advanced word finding by combining letter unscrambling with filters. Following are some examples.
Advanced word finding examples:
Question: How to find 5 letter words whose second letter being H and last letter being E? The words also include letter T and exclude letters S and L.
Answer: Unscramble ‘?????’ (5 ?’s) with ‘Contains’ filter of ‘?H??E’, ‘Includes Letters’ filter of ‘T’, and ‘Excludes Letters’ filter of ‘SL’.
Question: How to find all words that contain at least 4 E’s?
Answer: Unscramble ‘???????????????’ (15 ?’s) with ‘Includes letters’ filter of ‘EEEE’.
Question: How to find all words that contain the word ‘TREAT’?
Answer: Unscramble ‘???????????????’ (15 ?’s) with ‘Contains’ filter of ‘TREAT’.
Question: How to find all words that contain all letters in PHOTOSHOP?
Answer: Unscramble ‘???????????????’ (15 ?’s) with ‘Includes letters’ filter of ‘PHOTOSHOP’.
Question: How to find all words whose last letter is E and first letter is A?
Answer: Unscramble ‘???????????????’ (15 ?’s) with ‘Begins with’ filter of ‘A’ and ‘Ends with’ filter of ‘E’.
Question: How to find all 7-letter words whose second letter is E and second last letter is T?
Answer: Unscramble ‘???????’ (7 ?’s) with ‘Contains’ filter of ‘?E???T?’.
The solution page appears after the green ‘UNSCRAMBLE’ key is tapped. The page shows all solution words. The words are grouped by their sizes. For each size, the words are sorted by default based on usage (commonly used words appears earlier). Letters correspond to wildcards are in orange color. Following actions can be performed in this solution page.
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- Tap a solution word to highlight the word.
- Tap the sort option button (‘Usage’, ‘A to Z’, or Scrabble score) to change how the words of the same size are sorted, by usage, alphabetical order, or Scrabble score.
- Tap the information button to the right of each word to google the meaning of the word.
- Tap the ‘Get the next 20 words’ or ‘Get the rest ?? words’ button at the end of the displayed words for each size (this button will be there when there are more solution words of the size than those displayed) in the solution list to add more solution words on display.
- Tap the arrow at the App Bar (upper left of the screen) to go back to the previous page where a new set of letters can be entered to be unscrambled.