Words come alive on Merriam-Webster's Word Central Web site, www.wordcentral.com. It is full of ways for kids and parents to enjoy words and language.

The site, produced by the well-known publisher of dictionaries and reference books, includes a dictionary that can quickly define most words for a puzzled reader. And it offers a daily "buzzword," complete with definition, pronunciation key and an example of its use in a sentence. Kids can use these words to stump their friends in a battle of brains.

The site also features an activity called "Build Your Own Dictionary," where kids can send in words, made up or otherwise, and have them added to the Web site's dictionary. This doesn't guarantee these words will be published in Merriam-Webster's real dictionary. To find out how that happens, kids can click on "How Words Get Into the Dictionary."

Other features on the Web site include the English Experiments activity where kids can watch the text they type turn into jumbled secret codes to send friends. There is even a Teacher's Lounge, with information on language resources, links to other Web sites and a suggestion box.