Determining Word's English Validity with Python

In Natural Language Processing, verifying whether a word belongs to the English dictionary is a common task. NLTK's WordNet interface, while powerful, can be intricate for simple tasks like this.

Checking a Word's Existence in the English Dictionary

To efficiently check a word's presence in the English dictionary, consider utilizing a dedicated spellchecking library such as PyEnchant.

import enchant

# Create English dictionary
dict = enchant.Dict("en_US")

# Check word validity
def is_english_word(word):
    return dict.check(word)

# Example usage
is_english_word("helicopter")  # True
is_english_word("unorthadox")  # False

Handling Singular and Plural Forms

PyEnchant's dictionary capabilities extend beyond word validity checks. It offers suggestions for incorrect words and can even facilitate pluralization checks, although an external library like inflect can provide specialized singularization/pluralization support as well.