The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
STENCIL
Definition of STENCIL
noun
A thin sheet, either perforated or using some other technique, with which a pattern may be produced upon a surface; a utensil that contains a perforated sheet.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Likely a nominalization of Middle English stencellen (“to garnish with bright hues”), borrowed from Middle French estinceller (“to glisten”), from Old French estenceler (“to spark”), from Old French estencele (“spark”), from Vulgar Latin *stincilla, from metathesis of Latin scintilla (“spark”). The verb is from the noun.
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.
STENCIL in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 6 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 57, 16 July 2026. The most recent board was Day 98, 26 August 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 4 days.
First ever to find it
on Day 57, 16 July 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
STENCIL starts with S and ends with L. Sorted, its letters read CEILNST - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. No letter is used twice, which makes it an isogram.
Same letters, different word
3 other words use exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start STENCI
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 57
Could you have found STENCIL?
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 57 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER