The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.

MODAL

/ˈməʊdəl/5 letters

Definition of MODAL

adjective

Of, or relating to a mode or modus.

Wiktionary · CC BY-SA

Where it comes from

From Middle French modal, from Medieval Latin modālis (“pertaining to a mode”), from Latin modus (“mode”). Compare to French, Spanish, and Portuguese modal and Italian modale. By surface analysis, mod(e) + -al.

Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).

Word DNA

Line of descent

  1. Latin
  2. Middle French
  3. English

2 recorded generations before English.

Latin

Deepest traced root

1st

of 59 source languages in OUTLIER

33%

of traced words share this origin (9,764)

Italic

branch · 33% of traced words

How it is built

adjective2 syllablescompound-al

Same root, MODAL · 1 relative in the game

Its etymology also names Italian, Portuguese, Spanish.

Every Latin word → · The Word DNA of OUTLIER →

Rarity score
Withheld
Revealed only in play
Tier
Withheld
Find it yourself

OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.

MODAL in OUTLIER

Players have found it on 56 boards so far. 164 players have found it across Outlier's history.

Day 1Day 151
Its 56 boards, across 151 finished boards · taller bars are busier boards
56
Boards found on
24
First board
150
Latest board
11
Longest gap, days

It first turned up on Day 24, 13 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 150, 17 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.

First ever to find it

runningactor

on Day 27, 16 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers

Built from these letters

MODAL
5
Letters
2
Vowels
3
Consonants
5
Different letters
1
Longest consonant run
1
Longest vowel run

MODAL starts with M and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read ADLMO - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.

Same letters, different word

2 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.

Words that start MODAL

Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.

Could you have found MODAL?

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 24 - and most players walked straight past it.

Play today's OUTLIER