Online dictionaries with word games

If you think online dictionaries are just for checking spelling, it's time to think again. Here are two sites we visit when we want to play word games.

At oxforddictionaries.com, you can strengthen your language skills with the Spelling Challenge, where you must spell the word that is spoken. There are three levels -- tricky, difficult and fiendish -- and you can choose English- or American-accented speakers, though either group has an occasional member whose enunciation leaves something to be desired. You can also hang out with Hangman, a childhood favorite that adults like, too. There are also crossword puzzles and games ranked easy, slightly harder or difficult that feature palindromes, anagrams, homophones, rhymes and rebuses.

If you love Jumbles, head over to merriam-webster.com, where you'll not only find the Daily Jumble but Jumble Solitaire, Jumpin' Jumble, Jumble Jong and Crossword Jumble.

Crossword fanatics can test themselves further with the L.A. Times and Universal daily puzzles. Name That Thing is a visual game where you have to identify a picture, while True or False? is a 10-question quiz that might teach you something you didn't know. Among the site's many other games is Word Sudoku.