What the matcher ignores
Case does not matter. Accents do not matter, so "creme brulee" and "crème brûlée" reach the same answer. Punctuation and spacing do not matter, which means "ice cream" and "ice-cream" are equivalent. In solo play the matcher also ignores a trailing s, so singular and plural forms reach the same entry; in multiplayer it does not, so use the form the board itself lists.
In multiplayer, the matcher also ignores a leading article, so "a ladder" and "ladder" are the same answer. The practical result is that you should not spend time formatting your answer. Spend the time choosing the right word.
What is not accepted
The boards contain twelve answers per prompt. If your wording is not one of those twelve, or a listed alias for one of them, the answer is refused even when it is a perfectly reasonable response. The game has no model of meaning and does not learn from what you type.
This is why a refused answer should be treated as a signal about wording rather than a judgement about your idea. The idea may be right; the word may not be on the board.
Brands and generic words
Boards generally use the generic term. A brand may be absent even when the product is common. If you are choosing between a brand and a category word under time pressure, the category word is the safer bet in both matching and ranking.
The exception is a prompt that explicitly asks for a brand. Those are rare, and when they appear the board lists the names people actually say.
Regional words and spelling
The boards use one common English term per answer and list the main regional variant as an alias where it is well known. "Trainers" and "sneakers", or "aubergine" and "eggplant", should both reach the same entry. If a regional word is refused, try the more widely used term for the same object.
Spelling differences such as colour and color are handled by the same normalisation that removes accents and punctuation, so either spelling is accepted when the answer is on the board.
What to do after a refusal
Replace the word, not the idea. If you tried a specific example, move one level up to the category. If you tried a category, move to the single most obvious member of it. Two attempts usually find the board entry when one exists.
- Try the plainest synonym.
- Drop brand names and technical terms.
- Move from a specific example to the general category.
- Submit before the clock reaches zero, even if you are unsure.
Numbers, units, and abbreviations
The boards store words rather than symbols, so write the word instead of a digit and avoid units that are not part of the answer. An abbreviation is a different string from the full word, and the matcher does not expand it.
The same applies to punctuation that changes the word rather than the spacing: a hyphen inside a compound is ignored, but a shortened form is a different answer. When in doubt, write the ordinary full word.