Last time we took what I consider to be a surprisingly interesting look at some of the words and word categories that have recently been featured on the TV game show “Jeopardy!.” I say surprisingly because I never really considered the program to be one that was about words. Trivia, yes. Words, no.

As occasionally happens (more than I’d like to admit, actually) my opinion about something has quickly proven to be incorrect. That’s because once I’d decided to do some poking around on the old Interweb to locate the top 10 shows that are primarily about words, there it was – “Jeopardy!” — on Dictionary.com’s list of top shows about words. Like “Jeopardy!,” many of these programs have come and gone only to be reincarnated – sometimes more than once.

“Password” is the familiar word game in which two contestants try to figure out the correct password based on one-word clues given by their partners. These clues might be in the form of an “opposite clue,” such as saying “Stop?” when trying to get the response ”Go,” or an “instructional clue,” such as “synonym.” First hosted by Allen Ludden in 1961, “Password” has been revived five times including its current version on NBC.

Created by Merv Griffin in 1975, “Wheel of Fortune” – which is often referred to simply as “Wheel” – is a pure word game based on the popular children’s game hangman. Current host Pat Sajak took the helm from Chuck Woolery, who’d emceed the program for its first six years. As almost everyone knows, contestants guess the letters in a hidden phrase in hopes of revealing enough to be the first to guess the phrase.

And then there’s that other Merv Griffin game show, “Jeopardy!.” Dictionary.com strengthens the answer-and-question program’s credibility as a show about words, writing: “Past categories on ‘Jeopardy’ have included compound words, 10-letter words, synonyms, slang words, and other word-focused trivia that challenges you to bring all of your vocabulary skills to the table.”

The original daytime version debuted on NBC on March 30, 1964, and ran for a decade. Following two brief revivals, the syndicated show familiar to current viewers premiered on Sept. 10, 1984.

Some other very good TV shows for the grammatically minded (most of which can be seen on the Game Show Network) include “People Pleasers,” “Chain Reaction,” “$100,000 Pyramid” and “25 Words or Less,” which is hosted by Meredith Vieira.

There’s also “Lingo,” which is modeled after the British program of the same name and ran for 10 episodes in 1988 and on the Game Show Network with host Chuck Woolery from 2002–2007. In the game, teams of two players are given the first letter of a five- or six-letter word they’re trying to guess and proceed to play as if they’re playing Wordle.

One British word show we can’t see here in the United States is called “Countdown,” which has challenges that involve both words and numbers. In the words part of the contest, players are given 30 seconds to make the longest word they can out of nine random letters (these letters must include at least three vowels and four consonants). Players receive one point for each letter they use in an acceptable word or 18 points if they use all nine letters.

For example, if the random letters were GYHDNOEUR, the solution “hydrogen” would score more points (9) than “younger” (8), while “greyhound” would be awarded 18 points. “Countdown” is modeled after “Des Chiffres et des Lettres” (“Numbers and Letters”), which has aired continuously on French television since 1965. It’s a fun game that will hopefully make it to our television screens some day.

Until then, there are plenty of other very worthy word shows out there to watch, so if you can’t find one, you’re just plain . . . well . . . what’s a four-letter word starting with “L” that means the opposite of motivated?

Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at jlwitherell19@gmail.com.

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