Words Starting With a Letter
Need ten words beginning with “sh” for phonics, or a pile of P words for an alliteration poem? The word site has a page of common words for each starting letter, sorted by length.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
What it does
Each letter page lists common words beginning with that letter, from three to ten letters long, grouped into a section for each length. A short summary at the top tells you how many words are listed, which length has the most, and which word scores highest. For example, the Q page lists 197 words, with eight-letter words the largest group, and the A page lists 2,005. Each length section shows at most 60 of the commonest words, with a tile score after each.
Pages exist for every letter of the alphabet except X. The Classfern button opens the A page; from there, a row of letters at the bottom takes you to any other letter. If you need words with a particular start that also use certain letters, each page points you to the unscrambler’s Starts with option or the word finder.
How to use it
- Press the button below to open the A page in a new tab.
- Scroll to the row of letters at the bottom and pick the letter you need.
- Read the summary, then jump to the length section you want, from three-letter to ten-letter words.
- For something more specific, such as five-letter words starting with S that contain a T, use the unscrambler’s Starts with setting or the word finder.
More tips
- For digraphs and blends (sh, ch, st, bl), open the first letter’s page and scan for words that begin with both letters.
- Letters like Q, Y and Z have small lists, which makes them good for quick whole-class challenges.
Ideas for the classroom and home learning
- Reception–KS1 (4–7)Choose the letter of the week, open its page, and pick three-letter and four-letter words for a sound wall. Children add a picture beside each word.
- KS1 (5–7)Sort initial sounds: from the S page, pick words starting with s, sh and st, and ask children to group them by the sound they hear first.
- KS2 (7–11)Write alliterative tongue-twisters or poems: each pupil chooses a letter page and collects nouns, verbs and adjectives that start with it.
- KS3 (11–14)Compare letter pages: which letters have the most common words and which the fewest? Students predict first, then check the totals and discuss why.
Questions
Why does the button open the A page?
There is no single index page, so Classfern links to A. Every letter page has links to all the other letters at the bottom.
Is there a page for words starting with X?
No. Use the word finder or the unscrambler’s Starts with option for X words.
Are all the words shown?
Each length section shows at most 60 of the commonest words, so very large letters are trimmed.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
The lists come from a general word-game dictionary and include a few words you may not want young children to see. Preview a page before projecting it.