Plankton
The names everyone says first. Safe, but in a rare-answer game they barely score.
Krillion tiers explained
Krillion players know six tiers of answer, from Plankton to One in a Krillion. RareList uses the same names for its word lists. Here is what each tier means, how we set it, and real examples from our lists.
RareList is independent and is not affiliated with Krillion. Our tiers come from US Google search data, not from Krillion’s scoring.
- 1,063 Plankton
- 2,036 Too Clever
- 1,748 Schooler
- 681 Rare
- 314 Deep Cut
- 79 One in a Krillion
The six tiers
Too Clever
Feels like a clever pick, but plenty of other players will think of it too.
Krillion’s FAQ calls Too Clever “the go-to ‘obscure’ pick that isn’t actually that obscure”: the answer that feels smart but that many players reach for.
- Animals: American antelope 91K, Death's-head moth 27K, Wood thrush 12K
- Countries: Benin 91K, Eswatini 74K, Comoros 41K
- Fruits: Loquat 91K, Dragon's eye 27K, Sloe 12K
- Vegetables: Bean sprout 91K, Celeriac 33K, White radish 12K
- Foods: Adobo 91K, Salad dressing 41K, White cake 12K
Schooler
Real names many people know but few would say first.
- Animals: Addax 9.9K, Sea fan 3.6K, White-lipped peccary 1K
- Fruits: Anjou pear 9.9K, Fox grape 3.6K, Whortleberry 1K
- Vegetables: Beet green 9.9K, Vegetable marrow 3.6K, Nopale 1K
- Foods: Beef goulash 9.9K, Devonshire cream 3.6K, Stuffed derma 1K
Rare
Recognizable to enthusiasts; a strong pick in rare-answer games.
- Animals: Allosaur 880, Blindworm 390, Uintathere 110
- Fruits: Genip 880, Heart cherry 390, Sweet calabash 110
- Vegetables: Gem squash 720, Pascal celery 260, Earthnut 110
- Foods: Carrot pudding 880, Fish loaf 480, Rijstaffel 110
Deep Cut
Correct and checkable, but only specialists reach for them.
Krillion’s FAQ notes that some Deep Cuts are even rarer than its top answer.
- Animals: Apple aphid 90, Common louse 30, Woolly indris 10
- Fruits: Ketembilla 90, Ribier grape 50, Seeded raisin 10
- Vegetables: Winter crookneck squash 20, Globe pepper 10, Uruguay potato 10
- Foods: Bitok 90, Side of meat 30, Wheatflake 10
One in a Krillion
So rarely searched that Google reports almost nothing. Make sure you can explain it.
In Krillion the top answer is not picked on rarity alone: its FAQ says it is also chosen for how satisfying it is to land on.
- Animals: African wild ass <10, Morlett's crocodile <10, Whole snipe <10
- Foods: Boston cream pie <10, Spotted dick <10, Stomach sweetbread <10
Why a name can sit in a different tier in the game
Krillion and RareList measure rarity in different ways. Krillion’s FAQ says it scores many prompts against how often a word turns up in what people read and write, with an LLM and a manual pass for prompts that cannot be measured that way. RareList ranks each name by its average monthly Google searches in the United States, as described in how we rank. The two usually agree on what is common and what is obscure, but not always, and a prompt’s extra conditions can change which answers count at all.
Use our tiers as a guide to how readily a name comes to mind, then play the real thing at krillion.io. More games that work the same way are on games like Krillion.
Questions about the tiers
What does Too Clever mean in Krillion?
Krillion’s own FAQ describes Too Clever as the go-to “obscure” pick that is not actually that obscure. On RareList, Too Clever is the band of names with 10K to 100K US searches a month: familiar enough that plenty of other players will think of them too. It holds 2,036 of our 5,921 names.
Is One in a Krillion always the rarest answer?
Not in Krillion: its FAQ says the top answer is also picked for how satisfying it is to find, so a Deep Cut can be rarer. On RareList the tier is set by searches alone: names with fewer than 10 US searches a month, 79 names in all.
How does Krillion decide how rare an answer is?
According to Krillion’s FAQ, many prompts are scored against a database of how often a word turns up in what people read and write; others use LLM help and a manual pass. RareList uses US Google search volume instead, so a name can land in a different tier here than in the game.
Are RareList tiers the same as Krillion scores?
No. RareList is independent and not affiliated with Krillion. We borrow the tier names Krillion players know, but every tier on RareList comes from our own search data, and we do not publish Krillion answers.