Words Starting With O

O: More Than Six Thousand Words and a Sound That Carries

Say the letter O out loud. It's the most open vowel sound in English, the one that carries farthest when shouted, and the one poets reach for when they want drama ("O Captain! My Captain!"). That openness translates into versatility for word games. O starts over six thousand dictionary words, and what makes the O-starting list particularly useful is its density of everyday vocabulary. OAK, OAR, OAT at the short end. OCEAN, OLIVE, ORBIT in the middle. OBSTACLE, OCCASION, OFFSPRING at the long end. Crossword constructors rely on O-starters because they cross cleanly with high-frequency consonants, and OAF, OAR, OAT, and OAK are go-to three-letter fills that appear in grids constantly.

Two things to know about O. First, English borrowed the OVER- and OUT- prefixes from Old English, and both are enormously productive: OVERCOME, OVERLOOK, OVERFLOW, OUTRUN, OUTPLAY, OUTWIT. These prefixed forms account for a large chunk of the 8-to-10 letter O-starters, making them prime territory for Scrabble bingos. Second, O is one of only four letters that can form a standalone English word (O, A, I, and — debatably — X). The interjection "O" is distinct from "oh" and appears in formal address and poetry. In Scrabble, the two-letter plays OD, OE, OF, OH, OI, OM, ON, OP, OR, OS, OW, and OX give you twelve options, which is the most of any vowel. That's an enormous advantage on tight boards.

Scoring tip: OX is worth 9 points for two tiles and is one of the best emergency plays when your rack looks grim. Pair it with a premium square and you've bought yourself time to draw better tiles. For other vowel-heavy starting groups, see words starting with A and words starting with E. If you're solving crosswords and see an O followed by a U, check words ending in O for reverse perspective, and explore words starting with C for the many CO- prefix words that relate to O-starters.

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