Most English words are built from a small set of beginnings and endings. If you can spot them, you can unscramble faster, extend words on the board, and guess what a puzzle's answer might be. The counts below come from the Wordrack word list of 111,288 words.
Common prefixes
A prefix goes at the front and changes the meaning of the word.
| Prefix | Words in list | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| UN- | 2,665 | unfold, unlock, unsure |
| RE- | 4,000 | rebuild, replay, return |
| DIS- | 1,189 | disarm, dislike, display |
| PRE- | 887 | prefix, preheat, preview |
| MIS- | 477 | misread, mistake, misuse |
| NON- | 533 | nonstop, nonfat, nonviolent |
| OVER- | 727 | overdo, overlap, overturn |
| OUT- | 397 | outgrow, outlast, outrun |
| UNDER- | 304 | undercut, underfoot, undergo |
| ANTI- | 289 | antidote, antibody, antique |
Common suffixes
A suffix goes at the end and often changes the word's job in a sentence.
| Suffix | Words in list | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| -S | 33,841 | plural nouns and verbs |
| -ES | 9,958 | boxes, wishes, goes |
| -ED | 8,677 | past tense |
| -ING | 8,141 | present participle |
| -ER | 5,568 | a person or thing that does |
| -ERS | 3,166 | plural of -er words |
| -LY | 4,703 | adverbs |
| -ION | 2,280 | nouns such as action |
| -NESS | 2,208 | nouns such as kindness |
| -ABLE | 1,160 | adjectives such as workable |
| -FUL | 225 | adjectives such as helpful |
How to use them in a game
- Unscrambling: set aside letters that could form an ending, such as I, N, G or E, D, then unscramble the rest. See how to unscramble words.
- Hooks in Scrabble: adding S, ED or ER to a word on the board can let you play a second word in a parallel lane.
- Wordle: five-letter words ending in -ER, -ED, -LY or -ES are common, so test those endings when you know the start. See the Wordle strategy guide.
Words with no vowels
A handful of valid words have no A, E, I, O or U. In our list they are BRR, CRWTH, CWM, HMM, MM, NTH, PSST, SH, SHH. They can rescue a rack that is short of vowels, though you should check that your game's dictionary accepts them.
Longest word in the list
The longest entry in our list is ABSTRACTIONISMS, at 15 letters. Wordrack accepts up to 15 letters in the unscrambler, so you will not need words that long for a regular game.