Words Starting With FA
100 wordsFA words form one of English's most productive starting combinations, spanning everything from simple roots like FAD to elaborate compounds like FAINTHEARTEDNESS. This collection reveals how a single consonant-vowel pair can anchor words across farming, fashion, and fantasy alike.
2-letter words
13-letter words
64-letter words
145-letter words
176-letter words
237-letter words
228-letter words
79-letter words
510-letter words
211-letter words
3Pattern Guide
Insights and recommendations for these words.
The FA combination delivers surprising strategic value across word games, with scoring opportunities that reward players who look beyond the obvious choices.
Vocabulary & Language
Linguistic patterns and usage statistics
The FA pattern anchors several powerful Latin roots. FAC- (meaning 'to make' or 'to do') gives us FACTORY, FACTION, and FACTORIZATION. FALL- and its variants produce words about deception and error, while FAMIL- builds the entire family of kinship and acquaintance terms. The pattern also hosts many French borrowings related to fashion and style, reflecting medieval England's cultural ties to France.
Total Words
696
0.2% of dictionary
Avg Length
8.2 letters
2.9 syllables
Top Scrabble
FAMILIARIZATION
29 points
Longest Word
FAINTHEARTEDNESS
16 letters
Parts of Speech
With 60% nouns and 26% adjectives, FA words lean heavily toward naming things and describing qualities. The average length of 8.2 letters suggests this pattern favors substantial, often technical vocabulary over quick everyday terms.
Middle English dominates this pattern's history, serving as the gateway through which older French and Latin words entered common usage. The chain from FASHION—through Old French façon to Latin factiōnem—illustrates how Norman influence reshaped English vocabulary. French contributions cluster around style and appearance, while Latin roots underpin more abstract concepts like FANTASY, which traces through Greek phantasia for 'imagination.'
Word Games
High-value words for board games
Short (2-4)
Medium (5-7)
Long (8+)
the experience of becoming familiar with something
serving to make familiar
(mathematics) the resolution of an expression into factors such that when multiplied together they give the original expression
having achieved a comfortable relation with your environment
Short (2-4)
Medium (5-7)
Long (8+)
the experience of becoming familiar with something
serving to make familiar
(mathematics) the resolution of an expression into factors such that when multiplied together they give the original expression
FAZE stands out as a compact powerhouse, scoring 16 points in both games despite its mere four letters. The real strategic split appears in longer plays: FANZINE earns 21 points in WWF versus 19 in Scrabble, making it more valuable when playing Words With Friends. For Scrabble players, FAZENDA matches FANZINE at 20 points—a Portuguese loan word worth memorizing for its Q-less exoticism and premium tile placement potential.
Wordle
5-letter words for daily puzzles
Good Starters (E, A, R, S, T)
FALSE makes an excellent opener, testing two vowels (A, E) plus three common consonants. FARCE offers similar coverage with the bonus of checking C placement early.
Length Extremes
Longest and shortest valid words
The shortest FA words (FA, FAB, FAD) function as quick exclamations or clipped forms. Longer entries like FAINTHEARTEDNESS grow through compounding and suffixation, stacking meaning-bearing pieces onto simple bases.
Hidden Gems
Rare but valid words to surprise opponents
someone who falsifies
having achieved a comfortable relation with your environment
pasta shaped with scalloped edges and pinched in the middle, suggestive of a bow tie
a farm together with its buildings
FARFALLE deserves a spot in every word gamer's memory. It names the bow-tie shaped pasta—from Italian for 'butterflies'—and its unusual letter combination makes it both a conversation piece and a legitimate scoring option when you're stuck with awkward tiles.
Popular crossword answers
Words frequently used in crossword puzzles with common clues.