Pitfalls & Pratfalls

This is a collection of words with a tricky twist that might lure you into making a costly mistake. Of course, any true Scrabble player has a practically unbounded talent for confusing words, misremembering words, half-remembering words, remembering words from languages other than the one being played in or even inventing completely new words not known in any language, and a selection like this can barely scratch the surface of what is possible. Note also that I have excluded the large class of ‘plurals or apparent plurals with no singular’ (e.g. BEDSOCKS – for reasons obscure to me you can’t have one BEDSOCK*) which I have already covered, see ‘Plurals with no singular’. I have included on the left-hand side a small number of especially plausible phoneys, though naturally these need to be handled with the equivalent of asbestos gloves. They are shown starred and in red.

Further contributions welcome!

abluted	washed clean. No verb ABLUTE*.
aby abye	the past is ABOUGHT not ABYED*.
acquite	to acquit: ACQUITES, ACQUITING, ACQUIT. No ACQUITED*.
addorsed	turned back to back. No verb ADDORSE*.
affix	past is only AFFIXED, not AFFIXT*, although both FIXED and FIXT are good.
afflated	inspired. No AFFLATE*.
agalwood	no AGAL*.
airmile*	phoney. Try RAMILIE.
aleying	the verb is ALEYE, not aley*
aread	or AREDE or ARREEDE but not AREED*. And the past of AREDE is ARED or AREDD, not AREDED*.
artal	this is a pl. of ROTL (can also be ROTLS), a unit of weight. No ARTALS*.
atlantic*	phoney. Try TANTALIC. PACIFIC, of course, is OK.
aurar	this is the pl. of EYRIR, an Icelandic unit of currency: no –S.
awful	not AWEFUL*. But both AWSOME and AWESOME are OK.
axe	gives AXING not AXEING*.
axlike	no AXELIKE*.
banty	this is a noun: there is no BANTIER* (try ATEBRIN) or BANTIEST* (try TABINETS).
basho	a sumo wrestling tournament. No –S.
basifixed	attached by the base. No verb BASIFIX*.
batwing	an adjective, as in ‘batwing sleeve’. No –S.
beanie	not BEANY*.
bedotted	covered with dots. No verb BEDOT*.
begored	covered with gore. No verb BEGORE*.
beinked	covered with ink. No verb BEINK*.
bemazed	stupefied. No verb BEMAZE*.
bemedal	past is BEMEDALED or BEMEDALLED but participle is only BEMEDALLING not BEMEDALING*.
benchtop	an adjective meaning ‘for use at a bench’. No –S.
bendily*	phoney. Try BYLINED.
bepatched	covered with patches. No verb BEPATCH*.
beplumed	covered with plumes. No verb BEPLUME*.
beribboned	covered with ribbons. No verb BERIBBON*.
berobed	clad in a robe. No verb BEROBE*.
berouged	covered with rouge. No verb BEROUGE*.
besped	past of BESPEED. There is no verb BESP*.
betumbled	in a tumbled state. No verb BETUMBLE*.
birdie	not BIRDY*. And as a verb it gives BIRDIEING not BIRDYING*.
birkie	not BIRKY*.
birlieman	(Scots) an umpire, an arbiter. No BIRLIE*.
bonkers	crazy. There is no BONKER* to mean someone who bonks!
brandise	noun only: no BRANDISING* or BRANDISED*.
bready	no BREADIER* or BREADIEST*.
briefer	a noun, ‘one who briefs’, as well as the comparative of BRIEF, hence BRIEFERS.
briming	phosphorescence of the sea. No verb BRIME*.
brosy	no BROSIER* or BROSIEST*.
buirdly	(Scots) an adjective meaning ‘stalwart’. There is no BUIRD*.
bustier	a noun, ‘a strapless long-line brassiere’, as well as the comparative of BUSTY, so BUSTIERS is OK.
cajun	relating to descendants of the French-speaking Acadians deported to Louisiana in 1755. No -S.
calmer	comparative of CALM: not ‘one who calms’, so no CALMERS* (try MARCELS).
camerated	chambered, vaulted. No verb CAMERATE*.
cardfile*	phoney. Try FILECARD or FRICADEL.
cartop	able to fit on top of a car. No –S.
caseful*	phoney. Try FECULAS.
casky	no CASKIER* or CASKIEST*.
catchen	(Spenser) to catch. Infinitive only: no verb forms.
cerulean	dark blue: this can take an –S but its variant CAERULEAN can’t.
chainer*	phoney. Try ARCHINE or FOREMAN.
chastize*	phoney, CHASTISE is one of the few –ISE words now without a corresponding –IZE. Try ZAITECHS.
chylde	designates a youth of gentle birth. No CHYLDES*, although the variant CHILDE does give CHILDES.
cissing	there is no verb CISS*.
coadapted	adapted one to another. No COADAPT*.
cocuswood	no COCUS*.
comix	this is a plural noun: slang for comics, not a verb so no COMIXES, COMIXED*, COMIXING*.
confuser*	phoney. Try FROUNCES.
conman*	phoney: two separate words.
cosier cozier	these are nouns, ‘a cobbler’, as well as the comparatives of COSY and COZY, so COSIERS and COZIERS are OK.
costings*	phoney. Try GNOSTICS.
cottier	a noun, meaning a kind of tenant, not the comparative of an adjective COTTY*.
covyne	not COVINE* (try NOVICE).
cressy	no CRESSIER* or CRESSIEST*.
crosser	a noun, ‘one who crosses’, as well as the comparative of CROSS, hence CROSSERS.
crozzled	blackened or burnt at the edges. No verb CROZZLE*.
cupolated	furnished with a CUPOLA. No verb CUPOLATE*.
cuz	the plural is CUZZES, not CUZES*, just as the plural of COZ is COZZES (but COZES exists from the verb COZE).
dae	(Scots) to do: DAES, DAEING, DONE, DID. No DAED*.
daftie	a simpleton. No DAFTY*.
damndest	no DAMNDER* (but there is DAMNEDER).
dapper	can be a noun as well as adjective, hence DAPPERS.
darndest	no DARNDER* (but there is DARNEDER).
deleter*	phoney. Try DEERLET.
dicey	beware the phoney DICY*. Yet both RICY and RICEY are good.
dodman	a snail. Pl. is DODMANS not DODMEN*.
durndest	no DURNDER* (but there is DURNEDER).
daresay	this verb does not conjugate: no DARESAYS* etc.
dautie	not DAUTY*.
dawtie	not DAWTY*.
decanal	an adjective meaning ‘relating to a dean’ and not a verb meaning ‘to remove canals from’, so no DECANALS*. Do not believe everything Barry Grossman tells you during a game. In fact, do not believe anything Barry Grossman tells you during a game…
decoherer	a device for bringing a COHERER back to its former condition after it has been affected by an electric wave. No verb DECOHERE*.
delurks*	phoney. Try SKUDLER.
disbodied	disembodied. No verb DISBODY*.
disbound	not having a binding. No verb DISBIND*.
disgodded	deprived of divinity. No verb DISGOD*.
dismoded	outmoded. No verb DISMODE*.
disorbed	deprived of sovereignty. No verb DISORB*.
disrelated	not related. No verb DISRELATE*.
dizain	not DIZAINE*, despite SIXAIN or SIXAINE.
doomsaying	the act of prophesying doom. There is DOOMSAYER, but no DOOMSAY*.
doily	or DOYLY or DOYLEY but not DOILEY*.
dollier	a noun, ‘one who uses a dolly’, not a comparative, so DOLLIERS is OK.
dormie	this is an adjective, so no DORMIES*. Try MISDOER or MOIDERS.
draco	an adjective, as in draco lizard. No –S.
drapier	a noun, a draper. The adjective DRAPY does not compare, so no DRAPIEST*.
duel	DUELLING/DUELLINGS or DUELING but no DUELINGS*.
easter	unlike NORTHER, SOUTHER and WESTER, which can be verbs, this can only be a noun.
eastland	adjective only, unlike NORTHLAND and SOUTHLAND which can take –S. There is no WESTLAND*.
eftest	as soon as possible. No EFTER*.
egotiser*	phoney. Try ERGOTISE.
eirenic irenic	variants, but IRENIC takes an -S and EIRENIC doesn't.
ejector	no EJECTER*.
ekuele	a former standard monetary unit of Equatorial Guinea. No –S in plural, but the variant EKPWELE does take an –S.
elhi	(US) pertaining to school grades 1 to 12. Adjective only: no ELHIS*.
embace	(Spenser) to lower, debase: EMBACES, EMBACING, EMBASTE (not EMBACED*).
emersed	standing out from or rising above water. No verb EMERSE*.
emptier	this is a noun, ‘one who empties’, as well as the comparative of EMPTY, so EMPTIERS is OK.
enfested	(Spenser) embittered. No verb ENFEST*.
enfestered	festered. No verb ENFESTER*.
enridged	formed into ridges. No verb ENRIDGE*.
entrall	(Spenser) entrail: pl. ENTRALLES not ENTRALLS*.
equaler*	phoney. Try LEQUEAR.
erecter	one who erects. The adjective ERECT does not compare, so no ERECTEST*.
eroders*	phoney. Try REREDOS.
exacter	a noun, ‘one who exacts’, as well as the comparative of EXACT, so EXACTERS is OK. There is also EXACTOR.
fallguy*	phoney. Try FUGALLY.
fancier	a noun, ‘one who fancies’, as well as the comparative of FANCY, so FANCIERS is OK.
faster	yes, this can be ‘one who fasts’, so FASTERS is OK. But don’t try SLOWERS*!
feralised	run wild following domestication. No FERALISE*.
feralized	run wild following domestication. No FERALIZE*.
ferrograms	pl. of FERROGRAM*, a record made by FERROGRAPHY, a technique for measuring magnetically the wear on machinery. Note that FERROGRAM* itself is not valid because it was omitted from Chambers.
fico	takes pl. FICOS or FICOES but the variant FIGO takes only FIGOS.
flippy	no FLIPPIER* or FLIPPIEST*.
frijol	a kidney bean: pl. FRIJOLES not FRIJOLS*.
footrail*	phoney. Try FAROLITO.
forname*	phoney. Try FORAMEN or FOREMAN.
forrad	(Scots) forward: FORRADER or FORRARDER, but no FORRADEST*.
foulers*	phoney. FOULER is only the comparative of foul, not one who fouls. Try FUROLES or OURSELF.
fracking	the process of forcing liquid containing sand or other material into the strata round a well bottom to split them and prevent them closing. There is an unrelated Scots adjective FRACK, meaning ‘prompt, eager’, but no verb FRACK so no FRACKS* or FRACKED*.
franker	this is a noun, ‘one who franks’, as well as the comparative of FRANK, so FRANKERS is OK.
fratching	quarrelsome. There is a noun FRATCH, but no verb, so no FRATCHED*.
fricking	an expletive intensifier. No verb FRICK*.
front	there is a comparative FRONTER, in the restricted sense of 'articulated at the front of the oral passage', but no FRONTEST*.
fumado	not FUMATO* (you’re thinking of SFUMATO).
furlike*	phoney. Try FLUKIER.
furrier	this is a noun, ‘one who sells furs’, as well as the comparative of FURRY, so FURRIERS is OK.
gangling	loosely-built. No verb GANGLE*.
ghillie	not GHILLY*. As a verb it gives GHILLYING not GHILLIEING*.
gliffing	the time required to give a glance, an instant. There is a noun GLIFF, but no GLIFFED*.
goaders*	phoney. Try DOGEARS.
gradings*	phoney. Try NIGGARDS.
greek	something unintelligible: no GREEKS*. But GREEKED and GREEKING are OK (printing terms).
grisled	no GRISLE*.
gropings*	phoney (what, no GROPINGS in the back of the car?). Try PROGGINS.
groovily	phoney: try VIROLOGY.
grovel	gives GROVELED or GROVELLED, GROVELING or GROVELLING. But note that GROVELLINGS is OK but not GROVELINGS*.
guelder*	phoney (though every countryside lover knows the GUELDER rose). Try GRUELED or REGLUED.
guise	there is no GUIZE*, despite AGUIZE and GUIZER.
hasbeen*	phoney. Try BANSHEE, BEENAHS or SHEBEAN.
hatter	one who makes hats, but also a verb: to vex, annoy: HATTERS, HATTERED, HATTERING.
hattrick*	phoney: two words or hyphenated.
hellier	this is a noun: a slater or tiler, not the comparative of an adjective HELLY*.
henchman	no HENCH*.
hillmen	people living in the hills, but there is no HILLMAN*.
hokku	a series of HAIKU. No HOKKUS*, though HAIKU now does take -S.
hong	(obs.) to hang: HONGS, HONGING but no HONGED*.
hotter	can be a verb, to tremble: hence HOTTERS, HOTTERED, HOTTERING.
humbler	a noun, ‘one who humbles’, as well as the comparative of HUMBLE, hence HUMBLERS.
inbox*	phoney!
incut	set in as if by cutting. Adjective only: no INCUTS* or INCUTTING*.
inflexed	turned inwards. No verb INFLEX*.
ingrown	this and INGROWING are OK, but there is no INGROWS* or INGREW*.
inhouse*	phoney. Try HEINOUS.
inkjet	adjective denoting a kind of printer: no INKJETS*.
inlier	a rock information. Not the comparative of INLY, so do not infer an INLIEST*.
inlying	lying within. No verb INLIE*.
jailbait	adjective denoting a girl who has not reached the legal age of consent. No JAILBAITS*: the noun is jail-bait.
jeon	a monetary unit of South Korea. No JEONS*.
jetlag	OK but no JETLAGGED*.
jokol	no JOKOLS*.
jollier	a noun, ‘a joker’, as well as the comparative of JOLLY, hence JOLLIERS.
jotty	no JOTTIER* or JOTTIEST*.
jun	a monetary unit of South Korea. No JUNS*. But the variant CHON does give CHONS.
juster	a noun, ‘one who sells justs (jousts)’, as well as the comparative of JUST, so JUSTERS is OK.
kart	there is KARTING but no KARTED*.
keener	can be a noun, ‘one who keens (laments)’, as well as the comparative of KEEN, hence KEENERS.
keyring	adjecitve only: no -S.
kiddier	‘a huckster, a cadger’, and not the comparative of an adjective KIDDY, though KIDDY is OK as a verb.
kuvasz	a breed of sheepdog. The pl. is KUVASZOK.
kyne	(Scots) cattle. Already plural: no KYNES*.
laborsaving	of a household device, saving work. No LABOURSAVING*.
landwind	there is no SEAWIND*.
lentigo	a freckle or freckle-like condition: pl. LENTIGINES not LENTIGOS*.
lightwave	relating to a wave of light. Adjective only: no LIGHTWAVES*.
likuta	a monetary unit of Zaire. The pl. is MAKUTA not LIKUTAS*.
loathy	no LOATHIER* (try AEROLITH) or LOATHIEST* (try HELIOSTAT).
longer	a noun, ‘one who longs’, as well as the comparative of LONG, hence LONGERS.
losen	(Spenser) to lose. Infinitive only: no verb forms.
loti	a monetary unit of Lesotho: the pl. is MALOTI not LOTIS*.
lubfish	a kind of dried fish. No LUB*.
luge	gives LUGING or LUGEING, both of which take -S.
lusher	this is a noun, ‘an alcoholic’, as well as the comparative of LUSH, so LUSHERS is OK.
madder	a noun, a kind of dye, as well as the comparative of mad: hence MADDERS.
magyar	of a garment, cut with the sleeves in a piece with the rest. No MAGYARS*.
malist	not an adherent of MALISM, but an old Spenserian past of MALICE, to bear ill till. So no –S.
manful	no WOMANFUL* (but there is WOMANFULLY).
maraging	a process in metallurgy. No verb MARAGE*.
marver	this is a noun or verb, not the comparative of an adjective MARVE* (you’re thinking of MARVY). So no MARVEST*.
marvy	no MARVIER* or MARVIEST* (try VITAMERS).
meager	an American spelling of MEAGRE, but unlike MEAGRE it does not compare, so no MEAGERER* or MEAGEREST*.
mega-	don’t assume all KILO compounds have a corresponding MEGA compound e.g. KILOBIT/MEGABIT, KILOBYTE/MEGABYTE, KILOBAR/MEGABAR, KILOBAUD but not MEGABAUD*.
melamed	a teacher in a Jewish school: the pl. is MELAMDIM not MELAMEDS*.
metaplot	nothing to do with modern novels, but the pl. of METAPELET, a woman acting as a foster-mother to children on a kibbutz. No METAPLOTS*.
mid	has superlative MIDDEST, situated most nearly in the middle, but no MIDDER*.
millier	a noun (a unit of measure), not the comparative of an adjective MILLY*.
minished	past tense of MINISH, not ‘a small shed’. So no MINISHEDS*!
misavised	(Spenser) ill-advised. No verb MISAVISE*.
misbegot	begotten by mistake. No verb MISBEGET*.
misbegotten	begotten by mistake. No verb MISBEGET*.
misgotten	unjustly gotten. No verb MISGET*.
mistreading	a false step. No verb MISTREAD*.
most	gives MOSTEST but not MOSTER*.
motey	not MOTY*.
muzaky	do not infer from this the existence of MUZAK*, which remains capitalised.
niellated	inlaid in NIELLO. No verb NIELLATE*.
nightside	OK, as is DAYSIDE, but despite ‘Star Wars’ there is no DARKSIDE*.
nodated	knotted. No verb NODATE*.
nodulated	having or characterized by nodular growths, esp. root nodules. No verb NODULATE*.
noncling	an adjective meaning ‘that does not cling’. There is no verb NONCLE*!
nontarget	adjective only: no NONTARGETS*.
oat	there is no OATY*. WHEATY is OK.
only	has a superlative ONLIEST but no comparative ONLIER*.
opalised	made smooth, like OPAL. No OPALISE*.
opalised	made smooth, like OPAL. No OPALIZE*.
outcurve	a type of pitch in baseball. Not a verb, so no OUTCURVED* or OUTCURVING*.
outedge	an outer limit. Noun only, so no OUTEDGED* or OUTEDGING*.
outfling	a sharp retort or gibe. Noun only, so no OUTFLUNG* or OUTFLINGING*.
outjet	a projection. Not a verb, so no OUTJETTED* or OUTJETTING*.
outjut	a projection. Not a verb, so no OUTJUTTED* or OUTJUTTING*.
outroop	a noun meaning a kind of auction, not a verb, so no OUTROOPED* or OUTROOPING*.
outrope	a noun meaning a kind of auction, not a verb, so no OUTROPED* or OUTROPING*.
outsavor	to surpass in savour. No OUTSAVOUR*.
outsaw	this is the past of OUTSEE and not a verb in its own right meaning ‘to exceed in sawing’. So no OUTSAWS*.
overflush	noun or adjective, but not a verb, so no OVERFLUSHED* or OVERFLUSHING*.
overinked	concealed by the use of ink. No verb OVERINK*.
ovist	a believer in the doctrine that the ovum contains all future generations in germ. No OVISM*.
ower	not ‘someone who owes’ but Scots for ‘over’, so no OWERS*.
paisano	a fellow countryman: pl. PAISANOS not PAISANI* - despite the fact that the variant PAESANO can be either PAESANI or PAESANOS in the plural.
panto	pl. is PANTOS not PANTOES* (try TEOPANS).
pearlised	treated so as to give a pearl-like finish to. No PEARLISE*.
pearlized	treated so as to give a pearl-like finish to. No PEARLIZE*.
pedal	PEDALLING/PEDALLINGS but PEDALING and not PEDALINGS*.
pelon	in Latin America: (of an animal, esp. a dog) having almost no hair. No PELONS*.
-penny	THRUPENNY, FIVEPENNY, EIGHTPENNY and TENPENNY are adjectival only; all other PENNY compounds can be pluralised. (Don’t ask me why THRUPPENNIES but not THRUPENNIES*).
percen	(Spenser) to pierce. Infinitive only: no verb forms.
petlike*	phoney. Try PIKELET.
pianola*	a phoney (capitalised tradename). But one can have PIANOLIST.
pice	an Indian coin, 1/4 anna. No PICES*.
piratize*	phoney. Try TRAPEZII.
plumper	a noun, ‘one who plumps’, as well as the comparative of PLUMP, so PLUMPERS is OK.
plumpie	an adjective, plump, not a pie with plums in, so no PLUMPIES.
pompier	‘uninspired, conventional’, not the comparative of an adjective POMPY*.
potato	pl. is POTATOES not POTATOS*.
preassembled	assembled in advance. No verb PREASSEMBLE*.
precited	cited in advance. No verb PRECITE*.
predial	not a verb meaning to dial in advance, but an adjective or noun meaning connected with the land. So PREDIALS is OK, but no PREDIALLED* or PREDIALLING*.
prefilled	filled in advance. No PREFILL*.
prefits*	phoney. Try PRESIFT.
prehiring	taking place before hiring. No verb PREHIRE*.
premade	made in advance. No verb PREMAKE*.
preplant	taking place before planting. Adjective only: no PREPLANTS*, PREPLANTING* or PREPLANTED*.
prereview	taking place before a review. Adjective only: no PREREVIEWS*, PREREVIEWING* or PREREVIEWED*.
presplit	taking place before a split. Adjective only: no PRESPLITS* or PRESPLITTING*.
prime	does not compare: PRIMER is OK as a noun , but there is no PRIMEST*. Try IMPREST or PERMITS.
pulik	this is a plural of PULI, a kind of dog (can also be PULIS): no PULIKS*.
pushings*	phoney. Try GUNSHIPS.
putamen	a fruit stone; pl. is PUTAMINA not PUTAMENS*.
quep	an interjection: no QUEPS*.
quop	to throb; not QUAP*.
radiale	not RADIALES* – the plural is RADIALIA. Try SALARIED.
ranker	a noun, ‘a person who serves or has served as a private soldier’, as well as the comparative of RANK, so RANKERS is OK.
rascally	has superlative RASCALLIEST (from Shakespeare) but no comparative RASCALLIER*.
rather	has superlative RATHEREST but no comparative RATHERER*.
reburned*	phoney. Try BURDENER.
recenter	not an American spelling of RECENTRE, but the comparative of RECENT, so don’t try RECENTERS*.
recolor	there is no RECOLOUR*. Americans may colour again; we get our colours right the first time…
redder	can be a noun, ‘one who redds (tides up)’, as well as the comparative of RED, hence REDDERS.
redeny	OK, but no REDENIAL*.
reinput*	phoney. Try REPUNIT.
remediat	this is an adjective, so no REMEDIATS*. But it does take an -E.
remines*	phoney. Try ERMINES.
renoted*	phoney. Try ERODENT.
renotes*	phoney. Try ESTRONE.
rereward	not a verb meaning ‘to reward again’, but a noun meaning the rearguard of an army, so REREWARDS is OK, but no REREWARDED* or REREWARDING*.
resave*	phoney. Try AVERSE or REAVES.
resaved*	phoney. Try ADVERSE or EVADERS.
resaving*	phoney. Try VINEGARS.
rescans*	phoney. Try ANCRESS or CASERNS.
restable	not an adjective, ‘that can be rested’ but a verb ‘to stable again’. So RESTABLES etc.
retiary	an adjective meaning ‘fighting with a net’. No RETIARIES*. Someone who fights with a net is a RETIARIUS (pl. RETIARII).
retoned*	phoney. Try ERODENT.
retones*	phoney. Try ESTRONE.
revulsed	affected with revulsion. There is no verb REVULSE*.
rew	though Chambers clearly implies that this is a verb, an old form of to rue, there is no REWING*. There is REWED, but only with the meaning ‘to wed again’.
rieve	to rob, plunder: past is REFT not RIEVED*.
righter	this is a noun, ‘one who rights’, as well as the comparative of RIGHT, so RIGHTERS is OK.
riley	not RILY*.
riotise	noun only: no RIOTISING* or RIOTISED*.
riotize	noun only: no RIOTIZING* or RIOTIZED*.
rippier	a seller of fish, and not the comparative of an adjective RIPPY*.
roborating	restoring health or vigour. No verb ROBORATE*.
rockier	this is a noun, a kind of dove, as well as the comparative of ROCKY, so ROCKIERS is OK.
ronne	(Spenser) to run. Infinitive only: no verb forms.
rosier	this is a noun, a rose-bush, as well as the comparative of ROSY, so ROSIERS is OK.
rougher	can be a noun, ‘one who roughs’: hence ROUGHERS.
royal	ROYALLER, ROYALLEST – not ROYALER*, ROYALEST*. This is despite the fact that one can have LOYALER or LOYALLER, LOYALEST or LOYALLEST. Don’t you just love the English language?
rype	a ptarmigan: the pl. is RYPER, not RYPES*.
saltier	this is a noun, a kind of cross, as well as the comparative of SALTY, so SALTIERS is OK.
salwar	adjective, as in salwar kameez, a Pakistani woman’s tunic. No SALWARS*. But SHALWAR does give SHALWARS.
saucier	the comparative of SAUCY, but it now also means ‘a chef who specialises in sauces’ so can take an –S.
sceat sceatt	an Anglo-Saxon coin: the pl. is SCEATTAS, not SCEATS* or SCEATTS*.
score	be careful with the multiples: there is THREESCORE, FOURSCORE, SIXSCORE, EIGHTSCORE and NINESCORE but no TWOSCORE*, FIVESCORE* or SEVENSCORE*.
scroddled	made of clay scraps of different colours. No SCRODDLE*.
sealion*	phoney. Try ANISOLE.
seecatch	a fur seal: the pl. is SEECATCHIE not SEECATCHES*.
semidarkness	a state between dark and light. No SEMIDARK*.
semitic*	phoney. Try MISCITE.
sheatfish	there is no SHEAT*.
sheetfed	no SHEETFEED*.
shier	this is a noun, ‘a horse that shies’, as well as the comparative of SHY, so SHIERS is OK.
siliconised	of glassware, coated with silicon. No SILICONISE*.
siliconized	of glassware, coated with silicon. No SILICONIZE*.
slanty	OK but no SLANTIER* or SLANTIEST*.
snowsurfing	no SNOWSURF*.
sokaiya	in Japan, a corporate racketeer. No SOKAIYAS*.
sooner	this is a noun, one who settles on government land before it is officially opened for settlement, as well as the comparative of SOON, so SOONERS is OK.
sparsedly	sparsely. No SPARSED*.
spirated	voiceless. No SPIRATE*.
spoffy	no SPOFFIER* or SPOFFIEST*.
spoonfed	no SPOONFEED*.
spurry	this can be a noun, meaning a kind of plant, or an adjective meaning spur-like. The adjective does not compare, so no SPURRIEST*, but just to confuse you there is a noun SPURRIER, meaning one who make spurs.
staghorn	adjective, as in staghorn fern, a type of fern with fronds that resemble antlers. No STAGHORNS*.
stepdancing	doing a step dance. No STEPDANCE*.
stimie	gives STIMYING not STIMIEING* (though STYMIE gives STYMIEING).
storiated	decorated with elaborate ornamental designs. No STORIATE*.
subcenter	no SUBCENTRE*.
sugging	selling under the guise of market research. No verb SUGG*.
suspence	(Milton) suspended, held back. Adjective only: no SUSPENCES*.
swinging	as an adjective, has superlative SWINGINGEST but no comparative SWINGINGER*.
swiss	a cotton fabric. There is a noun SWISSING, meaning a kind of treatment of cloth, but no SWISSED*.
tablier	this is a noun, not the comparative of an adjective TABLY*.
tadvance	(Spenser) to advance. Infinitive only: no verb forms.
taffetized	having a crisp finish. No verb TAFFETIZE*, and no TAFFETISE*.
tanalised	of timber, treated with Tanalith, a proprietary preservative. No TANALISE*.
tanalized	of timber, treated with Tanalith, a proprietary preservative. No TANALIZE*.
tangentally	in the direction of a tangent, tangentially. N.B. there is no adjective TANGENTAL*, only TANGENTIAL, but Chambers specifically gives both TANGENTALLY and TANGENTIALLY as the adverb.
tarrier	a noun, ‘one who tarries’, as well as the comparative of TARRY, hence TARRIERS.
tasswage	(Spenser) to assuage. Infinitive only: no verb forms.
teabags*	phoney. Try ATABEGS.
teaset*	phoney. Try ESTATE or TESTAE.
teasets*	phoney. Try ESTATES.
tegulated	composed of plates overlapping like tiles. No TEGULATE*.
temene	this is the pl. of TEMENOS, a sacred precinct. No –S.
theatergoer	no THEATREGOER*.
titmose	Spenserian for TITMOUSE: the plural is TITMICE not TITMOSES*.
tomato	pl. is TOMATOES not TOMATOS*.
tomfool	there is TOMFOOLISHNESS but no TOMFOOLISH*.
tossen	(Spenser) to toss. Infinitive only: no verb forms.
townfolk	no TOWNFOLKS*. But the alternative TOWNSFOLK does give TOWNSFOLKS.
treeline*	phoney.
udderful	having a full udder. Adjective only: no UDDERFULS*.
ugli*	phoney: the fruit still has a capital.
umbrated	no UMBRATE*.
uncling	not a verb meaning ‘not to cling’, but the participle of a verb UNCLE, to address as uncle.
uncoating	this is OK and so is UNCOATED but there is no verb UNCOAT*.
undate	an adjective meaning wavy, not a verb, so no UNDATES*. But UNDATED is OK, meaning not dated.
underlit	lit from below. No UNDERLIGHT*.
ungravely	(Shakesp.) not gravelly. There is no UNGRAVE*.
uninstall	no UNINSTAL*, although there is INSTAL or INSTALL.
unkid	a Scots adjective meaning ‘strange’, not a verb meaning to deprive of kids!
unpeeled	not peeled. No verb UNPEEL*.
unrip	pt. is UNRIPPED only, though the past tense of RIP can be RIPPED or RIPT.
untaped*	phoney. Try UNADEPT.
untapes*	phoney. Try PEANUTS or PESAUNT.
unticked*	phoney. Try TUNICKED.
untrain*	phoney. Try URINANT.
unwive	to deprive of a wife – not UNWIFE*. But UNWIFELY is OK.
upflashing	flashing up. No verb UPFLASH*.
upstretched	no verb UPSTRETCH*.
uptitling	the practise of conferring grandiose titles on employees doing relatively menial jobs. No verb UPTITLE*.
vagrom	vagrant. Adjective only: no VAGROMS*.
vizier	at least one person is reported to have thought that this noun (a Muslim minister) was the comparative of an adjective VIZY, and assumed the existence of a VIZIEST*. VIZY is OK, but is a noun or verb.
void	this does not compare: there is a noun VOIDER (one who voids) but no VOIDEST* (try DOVIEST).
vraicking	the act of gathering VRAIC, a kind of seaweed, as performed by a VRAICKER. But don’t try VRAICKED*.
walkies*	phoney. Try SAWLIKE.
wanty	this is a noun: no WANTIER* or WANTIEST*.
wasserman	a man-shaped sea-monster. No WASSER*, and the plural is WASSERMEN not WASSERMANS*.
-wear	there are many compounds with -WEAR. Most take an –S: CRUISEWEAR, FOOTWEAR, INNERWEAR, KNITWEAR, LADIESWEAR, LEGWEAR, LOUNGEWEAR, MENSWEAR, NECKWAR, NIGHTWEAR, OUTERWEAR, RAINWEAR, RUBBERWEAR, SPORTSWEAR, STREETWEAR, SWIMWEAR, UNDERWEAR, WOMENSWEAR, WORKWEAR. The ones that don’t take –S are BEACHWEAR, EYEWEAR, PLAYWEAR, SHAPEWEAR, SKIWEAR, SLEEPWEAR and TOWNWEAR.
webfed	no WEBFEED*.
wheenge	gives WHEENGING not WHEENGEING* (although PEENGE gives PEENGING or PEENGEING).
winebar*	phoney. Try WEBINAR.
writhled	shrivelled. No WRITHLE*.
wrizled	wrinkled. No WRIZLE*.
yesty	no YESTIER* or YESTIEST*.
ygo ygoe	these are past tenses – no YGOS* or YGOES*.
yo	do not try YOYO*.
yokul	no YOKULS*.
yom	a day: the pl. is YOMIM not YOMS*.
yoyo*	Phoney. The word is hyphenated.
zapata	denoting a kind of flowing, drooping moustache. Adjective only: no ZAPATAS*.
ziptop	adjective ‘having the top opening fastened with a zipper’. No ZIPTOPS*.
zite	a type of pasta like large macaroni. No ZITES*.
zonate	adj. only, with variant ZONATED, but no ZONATES*.