The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HOAX
Definition of HOAX
verb
To deceive (someone) by making them believe something that has been maliciously or mischievously fabricated.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Reportedly a form of hocus. Possibly from hocus-pocus or Latin iocus (“joke”). Compare hokey.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HOAX in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 12 boards so far. 49 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 32, 21 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 105, 2 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 6 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 32, 21 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
HOAX starts with H and ends with X. Sorted, its letters read AHOX - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram. It uses X - among the least common letters in written English.
Words that start HOAX
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 32
Could you have found HOAX?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 32 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER