The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
SPONGE
Definition of SPONGE
noun
Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English sponge, from Old English spunge, taken from Latin spongia, from Ancient Greek σπογγιά (spongiá), from σπόγγος (spóngos). Displaced native Old English swamm (“fungus, sponge”).
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.
SPONGE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 17 boards so far. 18 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 7, 28 May 2026. The most recent board was Day 102, 30 August 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First found by a player on Day 7, 28 May 2026.
Built from these letters
SPONGE starts with S and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read EGNOPS - 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 SPONGE
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 7
Could you have found SPONGE?
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 7 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER