Common (and Uncommon) 3-Letter Words

By
, Staff Editor
Updated March 18, 2022
Running woman with Common Three Letter Words examples
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    Running woman with Common Three Letter Words examples
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    Girl: Elvetica / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Background: Tolchik / iStock / Getty Images Plus
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    Used under Getty Images license

Three-letter words are the foundation of English — try saying a sentence or two without using and, the, you, or any other common three-letter word. Whether you’re playing word games like Scrabble or looking for the perfect one-syllable word, we’ve listed more options than you’ll know what to do with.

Common 3-Letter Words

We’ve already used over a dozen three-letter words and haven’t even gotten to our lists yet! These three-letter words are the ones you use and hear every day. We’ve separated them by parts of speech to help you find exactly what you need.

3-Letter Adjectives, Adverbs and Articles

From adjectives that describe to adverbs that modify, there’s no shortage of three-letter words in these categories.

ago

all

any

bad

big

few

hot

how

mad

new

now

old

one

red

sad

six

ten

two

3-Letter Articles, Conjunctions Interjections, and Prepositions

All of these types of words help connect sentences and thoughts.

aha

and

bah

but

for

nor

off

qua

the

yet

3-Letter Nouns

Nouns are people, places, things, or ideas.

air

ant

bed

boy

can

car

cat

dad

day

dew

dog

elf

elk

gym

ink

jet

key

log

man

mom

one

pal

rug

saw

son

sun

urn

vet

way

yap

zag

zen

zoo

3- Letter Pronouns

Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence.

her

him

his

our

she

you

3-Letter Verbs

Verbs express an action or occurrence.

ace

add

act

aid

ail

are

ask

ate

bar

dig

eat

get

has

let

met

nap

out

put

run

sat

say

see

tan

use

was

wed

zap

Cool and Unusual 3-Letter Words

While three-letter words are common, there are a few you may not have heard of in everyday conversation.

ado

aji

alb

asp

bur

cay

cis

qua

zee

zed

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Great 3-Letter Words for Scrabble Games

If all you really want to do is win your next Scrabble game, use these three-letter words that include high-value letters like “w,” “x” and “z.”

fax (13 points)

fix (13 points)

adz (13 points)

fez (15 points)

hex (13 points)

jay (13 points)

jow (13 points)

kex (14 points)

pyx (15 points)

vex (13 points)

wax (13 points)

zek (16 points)

zax (19 points)

zuz (21 points)

zzz (30 points)

3 Letters FTW

Even words as short as three letters long can make you sound smart. Boost your vocabulary and your word game wins with even more word lists.