Words Starting With D

D Words: The Dependable Starter

D is the quiet workhorse of English consonants. At just 2 points in Scrabble with 4 tiles in the bag, it won't win any glamour awards, but D pulls its weight through sheer utility. The prefix DE- alone generates thousands of words (DECODE, DEFINE, DELIGHT, DESTROY), and DIS- adds thousands more. In fact, D ranks among the top starting letters precisely because of these Latin-derived prefixes. English borrowed DE- and DIS- wholesale from Latin and French, and they've been productive ever since.

A crossword fact worth knowing: D is the most common final letter in English past tenses. Every regular verb in the language ends in -ED, which means D appears at the end of words more often than almost any letter except E and S. If your crossword answer ends in D, past tense is your first guess. The suffix -WARD (BACKWARD, FORWARD, INWARD) is another D-ending pattern that shows up in puzzles regularly.

Strategy note for Scrabble: D's two-letter options are limited but important. DA (valid in SOWPODS, meaning a Burmese knife) and DE (not valid as a standalone in TWL) narrow your choices, so D is better as a word-extender than a short play. Adding D to existing words to form past tenses is often your highest-value move. Check words starting with S for another high-frequency extender, or try words ending in TION for D words that transform with suffixes. The words starting with C page covers another Latin-prefix-heavy letter.

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