This guide covers a number of topics and features of Knoword, and should serve as a handy reference if you ever need it. If there's anything missing or something that could be explained better, send us a message to let us know.
The main objective of Knoword is to guess words based on their definition and first letter. There is usually a timer that ends the game when it reaches zero. Correctly answered words score points and add time to the clock. If you don't know the answer, you can skip to the next question at the cost of a few points.
Subsequent correct answers add to your "streak", but skipped words will break it. When your streak reaches 5 or greater, the skip button will turn into a hint button. The next time you don't know a word, you can use the hint to expose the next letter in the word.
You can skip words or use your hint by pressing the esc key to save time from moving your mouse
Packs are curated sets of words, usually revolving around a topic (trivia) or as part of a school curriculum. Anybody with an account can create a pack by visiting the "My packs" page when logged in, and clicking the "Create pack" button near the top of the page.
The pack editor offers three ways to add words to your pack:
Knoword allows you to define a word using an image rather than text. Watch the short video below to learn how to use image clues, and see how they appear in-game.
When importing words, you can designate certain columns in your data as properties of your words. The following properties are supported:
| Field name | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
Solution | Yes | The complete word being defined, or correct answer to the question being posed |
Definition | Yes | A definition or clue to help figure out the solution |
Part of speech | No | Must be one of noun, verb, adjective, or adverb |
Attribution | No | Where this definition was sourced from, if applicable |
For more information about importing words, and some helpful techniques for curating lists and generating CSV files, check out the following video tutorial:
Pack artwork adds personality and a splash of color to any pack. Upload artwork and choose a color scheme by pressing the button in the corner of the pack preview. For best results, we recommend using an image 600px x 800px or larger.
By default, packs are set to Public visibility. This means they will show up in the pack browse pages and suggested packs for anybody to stumble upon and play. In the pack editor, can set this option to Unlisted to prevent your pack from appearing in these public areas.
Setting your pack to Unlisted does NOT prevent people from playing your pack, however. This might be useful if you're a teacher with packs that you want to keep a secret from the public, but share with your students.
In addition to having its visibility set to Public, a pack must contain at least 10 words to be listed publicly.
Assignments are a way for teachers to see the results of their students playing a particular pack. When you create an assignment, you must give it a name (ie. "Week 12 vocab exercise") and select a pack to assign using the pack search tool.
Packs that you create will be listed under the search input after it has been focused, but before you've typed any search terms.
You may also choose a time limit (or none), and add notes that will appear on the screen before your student starts the assignment. You can set a due date and time for the assignment, after which students won't be able to start an assignment. However, assignment submissions will still be accepted if the due date passed while the game was in progress.
After you've created an assignment, your students can access it three ways. Click on the table row for your newly-created assignment to open the assignment details panel and:
Before an assignment begins, some information about the assignment is shown in the bottom corner of the page, and the time limit at the top. After that, it's just like playing a pack. The results of each game are saved under the name of the logged-in Knoword account in your assignment details panel.
⚠️ An account is not required to submit an assignment. If an assignment is loaded with no account logged in, there will be an input in the middle of the page asking for the full name of the person playing. This name will appear in your submissions table after the game is completed.
As students complete the assignment, their results will be logged in your assignment details panel. You can view the frequency and quality of submissions over time using the scatter plot, or comb through the data in the table. You can also download all submissions as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV if you prefer to read the data elsewhere.
If you keep the assignment details open while students are completing games, you'll be able to see their results appear in real time.
Click on one of the rows in the submissions table to view more information about that particular game, like total time taken and longest streak. For even deeper insight about a student's performance, Knoword Pro members can see the specific words viewed and the result (correct/skip). That view looks like this: