Words Ending With LY
100 wordsThe -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
14-letter words
45-letter words
136-letter words
247-letter words
138-letter words
139-letter words
1310-letter words
1211-letter words
512-letter words
113-letter words
1Pattern 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
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)
Medium (5-7)
(of hair) in small tight curls
Long (8+)
in a quizzical and questioning manner
Short (2-4)
Medium (5-7)
Long (8+)
in a quizzical and questioning manner
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
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
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
in an adorable manner
"the toddler behaved adorably"
in a very painful manner
"the progress was agonizingly slow"
in an enjoyable manner
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.