Rachel Riley was left tickled after having to spell out an awkward word on Countdown yesterday.

The moment occurred during the first round of yesterday's game when contestants Thomas and Mike introduced themselves and picked their letters.

Not long after they made their selections, an interesting-looking combination started to form on the board.

The Essex-born television presenter, 36, then glanced at the camera with a cheeky smile at the letters I, N, V, A, A and G, quickly realising they could be used to spell out 'vagina'. 

The final set of letters was I, N, V, A, A, G, S, U and K and presenter Colin Murray had asked Thomas what his word after the clock ticked down.

He said: 'vagina' but when Colin asked Mike what his word was, he replied 'vaginas.'

Colin, clearly tickled by the funny moment, said: 'Vaginas, well, there you go, putting an s on the end, what a difference that makes. 

'Always pluralise. Pluralise everything, and there you go.'

The moment left audience members in stitches and they laughed along, with Riley raising an eyebrow.

And Twitter users were equally amused by the word, using the social media platform to reveal their thoughts on the funny moment. 

One person quipped: 'Countdown casually exposing my search history.'

Another user wrote: 'It's been an eventful first three days back on @C4Countdown for @ColinMurray and eyebrow raising for @RachelRileyRR and @susiedent_'.

They also tweeted a selection of other unusual words seen on the show such as 'p***' and 'scrotum.'

Meanwhile, another Countdown fan penned: 'That little grin and look of Rachel's that says 'Look and what I did!' makes it so great! That one that includes 'UK' sounds like a website that one logs onto with the curtains closed.'

A fellow Twitter user replied: 'Yep, Rachel's expressions are the best.' 

Others tweeted laughing emojis and another wrote: 'I get the impression that Rachel Riley has found a word already' when the rude word began to take shape on the board. 

And another person joked: 'That's a really nice pattern on Rachel's dress' in response to the image.