Words Ending With LY

100 words

The -LY ending transforms adjectives into adverbs, making this one of English's most productive suffixes. Here you'll find thousands of words from everyday terms like HOLY and WILY to scientific tongue-twisters that stretch across the board.

3-letter words

1

4-letter words

4

5-letter words

13
View all 13

6-letter words

24

7-letter words

13

8-letter words

13

9-letter words

13

10-letter words

12

11-letter words

5

12-letter words

1

13-letter words

1

Pattern Guide

Insights and recommendations for these words.

The -LY suffix does heavy lifting in English, and smart players can leverage its predictability for serious scoring opportunities.

Vocabulary & Language

Linguistic patterns and usage statistics

The -LY suffix descends from Old English -līċe, meaning 'in the manner of.' It attaches almost exclusively to adjectives to form adverbs—QUICK becomes QUICKLY, HAPPY becomes HAPPILY. This mechanical regularity explains why adverbs dominate this pattern so overwhelmingly. The suffix is so productive that English speakers instinctively coin new -LY words without thinking, even attaching it to nouns (KINGLY) and other adverbs (OVERLY).

Total Words

6,879

2.3% of dictionary

Avg Length

10.6 letters

4.1 syllables

Top Scrabble

QUIZZICALLY

43 points

Longest Word

CRYSTALLOGRAPHICALLY

20 letters

Parts of Speech

Nouns
6%
Verbs
1%
Adjectives
12%
Adverbs
81%

Adverbs account for 84% of words in this pattern, reflecting -LY's grammatical function. The average length of 10.6 letters runs considerably longer than typical English words, since -LY usually attaches to already-formed adjectives rather than creating words from scratch.

Middle English dominates this pattern's ancestry, which makes linguistic sense—the -LY suffix consolidated during that period as English standardized its adverb-forming rules. The etymology of SUPPLY traces through Old French back to Latin supplicāre, while ALLY follows a similar Romance language path. Interestingly, BUIRDLY preserves a Scots dialect word that evolved from Old English, showing how regional variants sometimes survive in the dictionary.

Word Games

High-value words for board games

Short (2-4)

HOLY

a sacred place of pilgrimage

10 pts
WILY

marked by skill in deception

10 pts
ABLY

with competence; in a competent capable manner

9 pts

Medium (5-7)

JAZZILY
35 pts
FRIZZLY

(of hair) in small tight curls

31 pts
FUZZILY
31 pts

Long (8+)

QUIZZICALLY

in a quizzical and questioning manner

43 pts
PHYSICOCHEMICALLY
39 pts
PHYTOGEOGRAPHICALLY
39 pts
WHIZZINGLY
38 pts

QUIZZICALLY tops both games with 43 points in Scrabble and 46 in WWF, but the real strategic insight lies in the medium-length words. JAZZILY scores 35 in Scrabble versus 37 in WWF, while FUZZILY jumps from 31 to 32. WWF's higher values for J and Z make these already-strong words even more dominant. For shorter plays, ABLY earns 10 points in WWF but only 9 in Scrabble—a small difference that compounds over a game.

Wordle

5-letter words for daily puzzles

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

EARLYStarter

in good time

Common Words (likely answers)

EARLYCommon

in good time

SILLYCommon

inspiring scornful pity

TRULYCommon

with sincerity; without pretense

BILLYCommon

a short stout club used primarily by policemen

EARLY covers two vowels (E, A) plus common consonants R, L, and Y. Starting with it tests the -LY ending immediately while gathering information about frequent letters.

Length Extremes

Longest and shortest valid words

Longest

CRYSTALLOGRAPHICALLY20 letters
EXISTENTIALISTICALLY20 letters
NEUROPHYSIOLOGICALLY20 letters
OVERENTHUSIASTICALLY20 letters

Shortest

FLY3 letters
PLY3 letters
SLY3 letters

Short -LY words like FLY, PLY, and SLY aren't adverbs at all—they're root words where LY appears naturally. The longest entries like CRYSTALLOGRAPHICALLY (20 letters) stack multiple suffixes onto already-lengthy scientific roots, creating words that barely fit on a Scrabble board.

Hidden Gems

Rare but valid words to surprise opponents

ADORABLY

in an adorable manner

"the toddler behaved adorably"

AGONIZINGLY

in a very painful manner

"the progress was agonizingly slow"

AGREEABLY

in an enjoyable manner

APPROVINGLY

in an approving manner

"she nodded approvingly"

AGONIZINGLY means 'in a very painful manner' and packs serious value for patient players. At 12 letters, it requires planning to place, but the Z alone makes it worth hunting for. It's the kind of word opponents won't see coming because it looks too long to be practical.

Popular crossword answers

Words frequently used in crossword puzzles with common clues.