Words Starting With HO
100 wordsWords beginning with HO span from the humble two-letter HO to scientific terms like HOMOSCEDASTICITY. This collection covers domestic life (HOME, HOUSE), natural phenomena (HORIZON, HORDE), and the rich vocabulary of biology and medicine where Greek roots flourish.
2-letter words
13-letter words
64-letter words
175-letter words
146-letter words
217-letter words
158-letter words
139-letter words
710-letter words
311-letter words
212-letter words
1Pattern Guide
Insights and recommendations for these words.
The HO combination opens doors to both everyday vocabulary and surprising scoring opportunities in word games.
Vocabulary & Language
Linguistic patterns and usage statistics
The prefix HOMO- (Greek for 'same') drives many HO words in scientific contexts: HOMOGENEOUS, HOMOZYGOUS, HOMOLOGOUS. Meanwhile, Old English gave us hearth-and-home words like HOARD, HOLD, and HOLLOW. This dual heritage creates a pattern where simple Germanic words sit alongside complex Latinate terminology.
Total Words
937
0.3% of dictionary
Avg Length
8.4 letters
2.9 syllables
Top Scrabble
HOMOZYGOSITY
33 points
Longest Word
HOMOSCEDASTICITY
16 letters
Parts of Speech
With 74% nouns dominating this pattern, HO words name things more than they describe or act. The average length of 8.4 letters reflects the prevalence of scientific compounds, while the 2.9 syllables per word suggests substantial vocabulary beyond basic terms.
Middle English and Old English together form the backbone of HO vocabulary, reflecting words that have been in continuous use for centuries. The chain from HOUND back through Old English 'hund' to Proto-West Germanic shows how core vocabulary persists across millennia. Latin and Greek contributions appear mainly in technical and scientific terminology, arriving later through scholarly and medical writing.
Word Games
High-value words for board games
Short (2-4)
Medium (5-7)
crested ill-smelling South American bird whose young have claws on the first and second digits of the wings
a narrow ridge of hills
Long (8+)
the state of being homozygous; having two identical alleles of the same gene
the act of making something homogeneous or uniform in composition
Short (2-4)
Medium (5-7)
a narrow ridge of hills
crested ill-smelling South American bird whose young have claws on the first and second digits of the wings
Long (8+)
the act of making something homogeneous or uniform in composition
HOAX scores nearly identically in both games (14 in Scrabble, 13 in WWF), making it a reliable four-letter play. The real scoring action comes from longer compounds: HOMOZYGOSITY nets 33 points in Scrabble, while HOMEOPATHICALLY and HOMOGENIZATION both reach 32 in WWF. HOCK's 13 points in both games offers a compact option when rack-clearing isn't possible.
Wordle
5-letter words for daily puzzles
Good Starters (E, A, R, S, T)
a chessman shaped to resemble the head of a horse; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice versa)
a ridge of the earth's crust that has been forced upward between two faults and so is higher than the surrounding land
robust east Asian clump-forming perennial herbs having racemose flowers: plantain lilies; sometimes placed in family Hostaceae
HORSE and HORST both test common consonants R, S, and T while checking the vowels O and E. HOSTA adds variety by testing A instead, useful if you've already eliminated E from consideration.
Length Extremes
Longest and shortest valid words
Short HO words tend to be Germanic survivors (HOB, HOD, HOT), while lengthy ones are Greek-Latin scientific compounds. The prefix HOMO- alone adds four letters before the root even begins.
Hidden Gems
Rare but valid words to surprise opponents
a person who accumulates things and hides them away for future use
someone who has a limp and walks with a hobbling gait
an official who remains in office after his term
"a holdover from the sixties"
HOARY means showing characteristics of age, particularly having grey or white hair. Beyond describing elderly appearances, it's used figuratively for anything ancient or venerable—'hoary traditions' or 'hoary jokes.' The combination of common letters and modest length makes it accessible in word games while sounding more obscure than it plays.
Popular crossword answers
Words frequently used in crossword puzzles with common clues.