Words Containing V

100 words

V appears in over ten thousand English words, making it far more common than its distinctive sound suggests. From everyday verbs to technical terminology, this letter bridges Latin roots and modern coinages with equal ease.

3-letter words

1

4-letter words

14

5-letter words

29

6-letter words

13

7-letter words

19

8-letter words

9

9-letter words

6

10-letter words

7

12-letter words

1

13-letter words

1

Pattern Guide

Insights and recommendations for these words.

The letter V rewards strategic thinking in word games. Its moderate point value and flexible positioning open up scoring opportunities that flashier letters can't match.

Vocabulary & Language

Linguistic patterns and usage statistics

V rarely appears at the end of English words—a quirk inherited from Latin spelling conventions. Most V-words cluster around predictable roots: 'vid/vis' (seeing), 'ven/vent' (coming), and 'voc/vok' (calling). The prefix 'over-' alone generates hundreds of entries, from everyday words to technical compounds.

Total Words

10,128

3.4% of dictionary

Avg Length

9.7 letters

3.6 syllables

Top Scrabble

HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER

40 points

Longest Word

COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY

20 letters

Parts of Speech

Nouns
52%
Verbs
11%
Adjectives
31%
Adverbs
5%
Other
0%

V-words skew heavily toward nouns at 52%, with adjectives claiming an unusually high 31%. The average length of 9.7 letters suggests V appears frequently in compound words and technical vocabulary rather than short, common terms.

Middle English and Latin dominate V-words, reflecting how the letter entered English primarily through scholarly and ecclesiastical channels. The chain from CULVERT shows typical layering: French borrowed from Latin, then English borrowed from French. Many V-words preserve this Romance language fingerprint, explaining why they often feel slightly formal.

Word Games

High-value words for board games

Short (2-4)

JAVA

a beverage consisting of an infusion of ground coffee beans

14 pts
JIVE

a style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s; flowing rhythms but less complex than later styles of jazz

14 pts
VEX

change the arrangement or position of

13 pts

Medium (5-7)

SOVKHOZ
26 pts
MITZVAH

(Judaism) a precept or commandment of the Jewish law

24 pts
KUVASZ

long-established Hungarian breed of tall light-footed but sturdy white dog; used also as a hunting dog

22 pts

Long (8+)

HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER

a musical note having the time value of a sixty-fourth of a whole note

40 pts
OVERCOMMERCIALIZING
40 pts
OVERCOMMERCIALIZED
39 pts
KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS

inflammation of the cornea and conjunctiva

38 pts

MITZVAH demonstrates the scoring gap between games—24 points in Scrabble versus 25 in WWF. The real strategic difference emerges with J-adjacent plays: JAVA and JIVE both score 17 in WWF compared to 14 in Scrabble, making J+V combinations more valuable in Words With Friends. SOVKHOZ scores identically at 26 in both games, offering reliable high-value plays regardless of platform.

Wordle

5-letter words for daily puzzles

Good Starters (E, A, R, S, T)

SAVEDStarter

guarded from injury or destruction

SERVEStarter

mate with

BRAVEStarter

possessing or displaying courage; able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching

GRAVEStarter

of great gravity or crucial import; requiring serious thought

Common Words (likely answers)

NEVERCommon

not ever; at no time in the past or future

LEAVECommon

leave unchanged or undisturbed or refrain from taking

EVERYCommon

each and all of a series of entities or intervals as specified

HAVENCommon

a sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo

BRAVE and GRAVE test the common -AVE ending while checking frequent consonants B, R, and G. SERVE covers both E positions and the useful RS combination.

Length Extremes

Longest and shortest valid words

Longest

COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY20 letters
KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS20 letters
OVERENTHUSIASTICALLY20 letters
OVERINTELLECTUALIZED20 letters

Shortest

AVA3 letters
AVE3 letters
AVO3 letters
DIV3 letters

Short V-words are rare because V almost never ends English words. The abundance of 8+ letter words reflects V's role in prefixes like 'over-' and suffixes like '-ative' and '-ive.'

Hidden Gems

Rare but valid words to surprise opponents

ABORTIVE

failing to accomplish an intended result

"an abortive revolt"

ACTIVEWEAR

attire worn for sport or for casual wear

AGAVE

tropical American plants with basal rosettes of fibrous sword-shaped leaves and flowers in tall spikes; some cultivated for ornament or for fiber

ALLITERATIVE

having the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable

"alliterative verse"

ALLITERATIVE means having the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable. Beyond its literary definition, this 12-letter word offers excellent tile management—it uses common letters and clears an awkward double-L from your rack.

Popular crossword answers

Words frequently used in crossword puzzles with common clues.

More "V" Pages

Browse words by longer letter combinations starting with "V".