Complete word lists organised by how a word begins — single letters A to Z, and the two and three letter beginnings that narrow a search much faster. Every list is grouped by word length with point values.
By first letter
By two-letter beginning
Far more useful than a single letter when you are hunting for a specific word. If you know a word begins ap, you have cut the search from thousands of words to a few dozen.
- words that start with ap
- words that start with co
- words that start with er
- words that start with in
- words that start with ca
- words that start with de
- words that start with ar
- words that start with bi
- words that start with re
- words that start with al
- words that start with en
- words that start with pr
- words that start with st
- words that start with tr
- words that start with un
- words that start with ex
- words that start with im
- words that start with sh
- words that start with ch
- words that start with th
By three-letter beginning
- words that start with tra
- words that start with thi
- words that start with mon
- words that start with sta
- words that start with pre
- words that start with sub
- words that start with con
- words that start with dis
- words that start with int
- words that start with per
- words that start with com
- words that start with res
- words that start with man
- words that start with car
- words that start with bou
What these lists are for
Three groups of people end up on a page like this, and they want different things from it.
- Word game players looking for a play that starts with a letter already on the board, or working out a Wordle answer from a known first letter.
- Crossword solvers with a first letter filled in and a length to match — which is why every list here is grouped by length.
- Teachers and parents building alphabet activities, where what matters is getting age-appropriate words rather than every entry in a dictionary.
The letters people search for most
Curiously, the letters people look up most are not the common ones. X, Z, Q and K generate the most searches, because those are the letters that stump people mid-game. The lists for those letters are short, which makes them the fastest to scan.
Related lists and tools
5 letter wordsAlready filtered to five letters, by start, end and contained letters.
Word generator from lettersEnter a specific rack of letters instead of a pattern.
Positive words A to ZA curated encouraging subset, by starting letter.
Spanish words that start with…Spanish vocabulary with English meanings.
Random word generatorRandom words rather than complete lists.
Questions
How do I find words that start with two letters?
Use the two-letter list below, or type the letters into the filter box on any letter page. A two or three letter beginning narrows things down far faster than a single letter.
How many words start with each letter?
It varies enormously. S is the largest group in English by a wide margin, followed by C and P. X, Z and Q are the smallest. Each letter page shows its exact count.
Are these lists complete?
Each list contains every word of that pattern from our dictionary, grouped by length. Very obscure and archaic entries have been left out so the lists stay usable.
Can I use these for Scrabble or Wordle?
Yes. For Wordle, the 5 letter word lists are more directly useful because they are already filtered to length. For Scrabble, use the word generator from letters if you have a specific rack.