The museum where language comes to life

Aloha. Konnichiwa! Guten Tag. ¡Hola! However you say hello, we welcome you to Planet Word.

Planet Word is an immersive language experience located at the historic Franklin School in Washington, D.C. Ideal for all ages, Planet Word is a voice-activated museum (the world’s first!), and our interactive galleries and exhibits bring words and language to life in all sorts of fun ways.

We strongly recommend booking passes online ahead of time. A limited number of same-day timed passes will be available on-site each day on a first-come, first-served basis.

Reserve your pass
Be a Word Detective

Lexicon Lane

Get ready for a word-sleuthing adventure and discover mysteries galore in our special puzzle room. Reserve a puzzle case and search for clues along Lexicon Lane — great for team bonding or solo sleuthing!

Located on our third floor.

Explore

Take a sneak peek

Expand Your World

BRING YOUR EVENTS TO LIFE

Host Your Event

Graced with grand windows, intricate ironwork, and lofty ceilings, the landmark Franklin School, home of Planet Word, is a uniquely stunning venue for your most important personal and corporate events.

What memories will you create here?

View event spaces
Notebooks & Puzzles & Pins — Oh my!

Present Perfect Gift Shop

Looking for the perfect place to shop for the word nerds in your life? Look no further! Browse a delightful selection of surprising, eclectic gifts at Present Perfect.

Located on our first floor.

VISIT
Restaurant

Immigrant Food+

Satisfy your hunger for knowledge — and food — at Planet Word with Immigrant Food+’s international menus that honor the gastronomic contributions of immigrants!

Located on our lower level.

MENUS & HOURS
Awards

  • Did you know?

    Perhaps ironically, the word “sesquipedalophobia” means “the fear of long words.”

  • Did you know?

    “Contronyms” are words that contain multiple meanings that are complete opposites of each other. For example, “oversight” means both “the action of overseeing something” and “a failure to notice something.”

  • Did you know?

    There are over 7,000 languages worldwide, but more than half the world’s population speaks only 23 of these languages.

  • Did you know?

    The first entirely artificial language was the Lingua Ignota, a private mystical cant recorded in the 12th century by St. Hildegard of Bingen.

  • Did you know?

    The 10 most-used letters in English are E, A, R, I, O, T, N, S, L, and C.

  • Did you know?

    Eels, llamas, and aardvarks, ooh my! In English, there are only four letters that appear as double letters at the beginning of a word: A, E, L, and O.

  • Did you know?

    A “deipnosophist” is a person who’s really good at making conversation at the dinner table.

  • How do you get a dog to stop eating your books?

    Take the words right out of its mouth!

  • What's the difference between a cat and a comma?

    A cat has claws at the end of its paws, but a comma’s a pause at the end of a clause.

  • The past, the present, and the future walk into a bar...

    It was tense.

  • Is there a word that uses all the vowels including y?

    Unquestionably.

  • Riddle me this

    What did the intransitive verb say when told it was pretty? (Answer: Nothing. Intransitive verbs can’t take complements.)

  • Riddle me this

    What does an island and the letter T have in common? (Answer: They’re both in the middle of water.)

  • Riddle me this

    What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it? (Answer: Short)

  • Riddle me this

    What starts with an e, ends with an e, and contains just one letter? (Answer: An envelope!)

  • Riddle me this

    What begins with a t, ends with a t, and has t in it? (Answer: A teapot!)

  • Riddle me this

    What’s in centuries, hours, and years, but not minutes, days, or seconds? (Answer: The letter R!)

  • Quote them on it

    “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” — Groucho Marx

  • Quote them on it

    “The past is always tense, the future perfect.” — Zadie Smith

  • Quote them on it

    “If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” — Toni Morrison

  • Quote them on it

    “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies...The man who never reads lives only once.” — George R.R. Martin

  • Quote them on it

    “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” — Nelson Mandela