If you really sit and think about it, how many words with double letters can you think of from your memory alone? Double-letter words are words which contain at least one set of letters used twice consecutively to make a certain sound, usually used in the emphasized syllable in the word containing them.
Double-Letter Words Are Common
Did you even realize that to this point you've already read nine double-letter words since you started reading this article? Does that make you happy, or do you simply think it's silly? After realizing just how common they can be, you'd probably be surprised to see the list of words you use in your everyday communication that have double letters.
Double-Letter Words With 3 Letters
Even though three-letter words are very short, they can definitely be words that have two identical letters in a row. There are a surprising number of words with three letters that feature double letters.
add | all | app |
ass | bee | boo |
coo | ebb | eel |
egg | ell | err |
fee | foo | goo |
hee | hmm | ill |
inn | lee | nee |
odd | off | oof |
roo | see | tee |
too | wee | zoo |
Double-Letter Words With 4 Letters
Among the many, many four-letter words in the English language, quite a few of them feature double letters.
ball | been | beep |
beer | beet | bell |
book | boom | boot |
bull | butt | call |
cell | cook | cool |
coon | dekk | doll |
doom | door | fall |
feed | feel | fell |
feet | food | fool |
foot | full | fuss |
gall | gull | hall |
heed | heel | hell |
hill | hood | hoof |
hoop | hoot | hull |
jeep | keel | keen |
keep | knee | less |
mall | mood | need |
pall | pass | peed |
peek | peel | pill |
pizza | poll | poof |
pool | poor | reed |
reef | reel | roll |
rood | room | root |
sass | seed | seek |
seem | seen | seep |
seer | sell | sill |
soon | soot | tall |
teed | teem | teen |
tell | toll | tool |
wall | watt | weed |
week | weep | well |
Double-Letter Words With 5 Letters
Quite a few five-letter words include double letters. Some, such as latte, are heavily influenced or created solely by other languages. Some are simply a plural form of four-letter words that include double letters, like weeks or tools.
abyss | achoo | added |
addle | agree | allay |
amass | annex | array |
atoll | baggy | balls |
betta | bless | bliss |
bluff | bossy | bunny |
chess | chill | class |
cliff | comma | crass |
daily | dizzy | dolly |
dress | drill | dwell |
fizzy | floor | floss |
fluff | fully | funny |
gabby | gloss | grass |
grill | gross | gruff |
happy | heeled | henna |
hurry | igloo | inner |
kazoo | knoll | latte |
lolly | lotto | melee |
messy | missy | offer |
patty | penne | piggy |
posse | press | puree |
quell | quill | rummy |
runny | rupee | scoff |
scuff | shall | silly |
sissy | skiff | skill |
skull | small | smell |
spell | spoon | spree |
staff | stall | steel |
stiff | still | stuff |
sunny | swell | tabby |
taboo | taffy | three |
tools | trees | trill |
troll | tummy | weeks |
wheel | whoop | yahoo |
Double-Letter Words With 6 Letters
There are a lot of six-letter words that contain double letters in the English language, largely because of the fact that, in most cases, a six-letter word requires at least two vowels in order for the word to work.
accept | across | addle |
affair | affect | annual |
appeal | appear | arrive |
asleep | assess | assume |
attack | baboon | bamboo |
battle | beeped | beetle |
better | boogie | breeze |
bubble | button | called |
cannot | cheese | choose |
cocoon | coffee | common |
cookie | cooler | cotton |
creepy | degree | doodle |
esteem | feeble | feeder |
ferry | follow | fooled |
frilly | gallop | geezer |
gloomy | goggle | goober |
grabby | granny | groove |
heeded | heeler | hookah |
indeed | juggle | keeper |
killed | lagoon | latter |
letter | litter | loofah |
manner | mutter | needle |
noodle | pepped | rabbit |
really | school | screen |
seeded | seemed | shrill |
smooth | speech | spooky |
stalls | street | summer |
teepee | tennis | toffee |
unless | vacuum | valley |
weeded | weekly | weenie |
wiener | wheels | yellow |
Longer Double-Letter Words
With so many prefixes and suffixes in the English language, turning a simple six-letter word into a much longer word with double letters becomes quite easy. For instance, the word communicate is a double-letter word that can be made significantly longer by adding a prefix and a suffix to make a different word, like excommunication. Of course, some double-letter words are simply lengthy on their own.
account | accused | address |
alleged | appealing | applied |
arranged | arrival | assault |
assumed | assumption | assured |
attempt | attract | baggies |
beekeeper | between | billion |
blossom | bookkeeper | bubbles |
bunnies | business | calling |
channel | classic | collection |
command | comment | commentator |
communicate | communication | current |
disagree | discuss | dressage |
excommunicate | express | feelings |
filling | fitness | follower |
freedom | funnies | glitter |
goggled | goggles | grasshopper |
greetings | illness | installation |
killing | littler | massage |
message | mission | missionary |
moonlight | noodles | passage |
passenger | passing | proceed |
processing | procession | rubbish |
session | shelled | shuffle |
shuffled | shuffles | spaghetti |
starring | steeled | supposed |
tresses | tummies | village |
warring | weekend | wheedle |
willing | witness | written |
Words That Start With Double Letters
There are a few words that begin with double letters.
aardvark | eerie | eek |
eel | llama | ooh |
oops | ooze | oozing |
Words That End With Double Letters
There are quite a lot of words that end with double letters.
abyss | access | across |
agree | amass | amiss |
assess | bamboo | bass |
befall | bill | boss |
brass | buff | bungee |
buzz | bypass | caress |
cell | chaff | chess |
cross | cuckoo | cuff |
cull | cutoff | decree |
degree | dill | dress |
dull | duress | egress |
emcee | enroll | entree |
excess | fess | fill |
flee | free | fuzz |
gall | gee | ghee |
gill | glass | glee |
grill | guess | harass |
hiss | jazz | jinn |
kill | kiss | knell |
krill | lass | layoff |
levee | loss | lull |
melee | mess | mill |
miss | morass | moss |
mutt | null | pall |
pass | payee | payoff |
poll | puff | pull |
puree | purr | putt |
quell | quill | recall |
recess | refill | riff |
runoff | scoff | scroll |
sniff | snuff | spill |
stiff | still | stress |
stroll | tariff | tattoo |
tell | thee | thrall |
thrill | tiff | till |
too | toss | tree |
troll | truss | twill |
unwell | uphill | voodoo |
Words With 2 Sets of Double Letters
Some words have pairs of double letters.
aggression | aggressive | balloon |
bassoon | bitterness | bittersweet |
buffoon | buttress | cappuccino |
coffee | commission | commissioner |
coolly | decommission | embarrass |
foodstuff | foolishness | football |
fricassee | fuzzball | happiness |
lessee | mattress | millennium |
misspell | misspelled | misspelling |
mollycoddle | riffraff | sappiness |
settee | sloppiness | suffragette |
taffeta | teepee | toffee |
Words With 3 Sets of Double Letters
Believe it or not, there are even some words that contain three sets of double letters!
addressee | aggressiveness | barrenness |
bookkeeper | bookkeeping | cheerlessness |
committee | greenness | heedlessness |
keenness | possessiveness | sleeplessness |
stubbornness | subcommittee | suddenness |
sullenness | unsuccessfully | whippoorwill |
Word Size Doesn't Matter
Because of the different phonetic sounds made by every letter in the English alphabet (the Spanish alphabet has its own sets of double letters to pronounce certain sounds, like “aa” and “ll”), double letters are necessary to emphasize certain sounds within words, and to ensure the word is pronounced correctly. For example, if the word letter only had one “t”, it would sound like a completely different word that has a completely different meaning.
- There is no size requirement for a word to contain a double-letter sequence, or limit to how large a word can be.
- Words with double letters in the English language can range from three letters to any amount of letters.
- In fact, the larger the word, the better chance you'll have of seeing at least one double-letter pairing.
Recognizing Double-Letter Words
Now that you have had the frequency of these words brought to your attention, you can see just how often they occur in your daily communication, and why they are important to the phonetics of the English language. Words with double letters are some of the most frequently used and seldom noticed types of words that people use in everyday speech, whether the communication is written or expressed verbally.
Try to take note, for one full day, of all of the words you use that contain double letters. Chances are you'll be surprised. While you’re thinking in twos, move on to explore examples of words with multiple meanings.