# Does playing scrabble or other letter to word games temporarily mess up your word recognition? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2026, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074 "2026-04-06T19:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/1 "2026-04-06T19:28:47Z")
I play the Thread games here. Where a new word is created from the letters in the old word. Focusing entirely on the letters sometimes makes me question if the word is spelled correctly. Like priest. It didn’t look correct. I had to double check the online dictionary. The word recognition problem goes away after I do something else for a little while. I normally would recognize the word in a sentence instantly. That’s because we read by recognizing words. Is that a common problem after playing games like Scrabble? I’m mildy autistic but was always an advanced reader in school. My mom introduced me to books at an early age. I read for pleasure most of my life. I used to spend a afternoon reading a book. My eyes tire more easily and now I prefer audio books. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/2 "2026-04-06T20:07:37Z")
Probably related to the phenomenon known as semantic satiation. > **[Semantic satiation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_satiation)** > > Semantic satiation is a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds. Extended inspection or analysis (staring at the word or phrase for a long time) in place of repetition also produces the same effect. > Leon Jakobovits James coined the phrase "semantic satiation" in his 1962 doctoral dissertation at McGill University. It was demonstrated as a stable phenomenon that ... ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/3 "2026-04-06T20:17:45Z")
That could be it. Seeing a word in a sentence adds context. Focusing entirely on the letters is not how I recognize words. Recognizing words is how I catch misspellings. The pattern of the word looks wrong. Thankfully, the word association problem goes away quickly if I distract myself watching tv or talking to someone. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/4 "2026-04-06T20:43:10Z")
It happens to me once of a while, but fortunately never lasts. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/5 "2026-04-06T20:46:44Z")
Any distraction makes the hyper-focus on letters go away. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/6 "2026-04-07T00:48:49Z")
Reminds me of an anecdote I read once by a (IIRC) journalist in a Scrabble tournament who challenged the word WAS because WA isn’t one of the legal two letter words, so obviously more than one WA can’t be a word either. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/7 "2026-04-07T01:33:09Z")
I have played Scrabble most of my life. Before I could spell okay(well enough). I’ve done crosswords as soon as my Daddy would let me sit on his lap and help him do them. Yes, this is the curse of word games. I try to picture the word in my mind like I am reading it either in a sentence or if I can recall the dictionary item. That’s how I cope. I’m sure many people have brains that can do instant recall. Not me. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/8 "2026-04-14T16:55:49Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Seeing a word in a sentence adds context. > [@Leaper](#): > > Reminds me of an anecdote I read once by a (IIRC) journalist in a Scrabble tournament who challenged the word WAS because WA isn’t one of the legal two letter words, so obviously more than one WA can’t be a word either. Yeah, seeing words out of context, even common ones, can mess with perception. My wife and I play Wordle together and one of the rare words we didn’t get was ‘debut’. We both looked at each other and simultaneously said "what does ‘debut’ (pronouncing it ‘deh-butt’) mean?? Until we both did a facepalm a second later 🤦‍♂️ My wife is a long-time Scrabble player, and she said one time someone spelled the word ‘ton’ and she said what does ‘ton’ (pronouncing it like the ‘o’ in ‘on’) mean? Ohhhh, ‘ton’ (tun)" as in 2000 lbs… 🤦‍♀️ ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/9 "2026-04-14T19:54:32Z")
Millhouse, on The Simpsons: I’ve said, ‘Jiminy Jilickers’ so many times, the words have lost all meaning! ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/10 "2026-04-21T00:15:43Z")
This made me think about what my husband is going through. He had a stroke in December. During cognitive therapy sessions, he can tell almost all of the details from an extremely short story because there’s context. However, when asked to repeat as many random words from a list that he’s heard immediately and after intervals he has a challenging time. It’s typical with stroke victims, the context matters. And, I apologize, I know this is off the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-playing-scrabble-or-other-letter-to-word-games-temporarily-mess-up-your-word-recognition/1029074/11 "2026-04-21T00:16:24Z")
It was suggested that he play Boggle.