POPULATED should be a relatively easy word. It is a past-tense verb form of POPULATE that means having people and animals living in or filling a place.
POPULATE first appeared as a correct answer on the September 2025 SAT. I added it to my list of One Hit Wonders and later illustrated it by noting that Hippies POPULATED San Francisco’s Haight-Asbury district during the 1967 Summer of Love.
My first response to POPULATED clearly underestimated the ability of SAT test writers to place an easy word in an unfamiliar context. POPULATED just reappeared as a Module 2 question on the September 2026 SAT. The passage featured a discussion of “microbial slurries.” Wow, this is a long way from the Summer of Love hippies!
The passage explained that a research team POPULATED pots of sterilized soil with slurries of live microbes. The word “sterilized” led many students to chose “SANITIZED” as a logical answer that seemingly fit the topic. WRONG! A slurry is a thin watery mix of insoluble particles suspended in a liquid. The logic of the passage supports POPULATED since the researchers grew mustard plants in the now POPULATED pots.
POPULATED now has my full attention! I have added to a place on my list of Double Trouble words!
POPULATED – having people or animals living in or filling a place