The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
MOTE
Definition of MOTE
noun
A small particle; a speck.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English mot, from Old English mot (“grain of sand; mote; atom”), from Proto-West Germanic *mot (“grain of dirt or sand, speck”). Perhaps linked to English mud. Compare West Frisian mot (“peat dust”), Dutch mot (“dust from turf; sawdust; grit”), Low German mut (“peat dust, grit”), Norwegian mutt (“speck; mote; splinter; chip”), Italian mota (“mud”), Spanish mota (“speck”).
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.
MOTE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 20 boards so far. 42 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 41, 30 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 106, 3 September 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 3 days.
First found by a player on Day 41, 30 June 2026.
Built from these letters
MOTE starts with M and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EMOT - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start MOTE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 41
Could you have found MOTE?
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 41 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER