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spring

/ˈspɹɪŋ/
verbnoun

Spring means a leap or the season of rising warmth and growth; the six-letter word scores 9 points in Scrabble.

NWL Collins ENABLE

Verb 4 meanings

  1. To move or burst forth.

    “The boat sprang a leak and began to sink.”

  2. To cause to spring (all senses).

  3. To leap over.

  4. To burst into pieces, to explode, to shatter.

Noun 4 meanings

  1. An act of springing: a leap, a jump.

  2. The season of the year in temperate regions in which temperatures and daylight hours rise, and plants spring from the ground and into bloom and dormant animals spring to life.

    “Spring is the time of the year most species reproduce.”

  3. The time of something's growth; the early stages of some process.

  4. Someone with ivory or peach skin tone and eyes and hair that are not extremely dark, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

Where it comes from

Etymology

From Middle English springen, from Old English springan (“to spring, leap, bounce, sprout forth, emerge, spread out”), from Proto-West Germanic *springan, from Proto-Germanic *springaną (“to burst forth”), from Proto-Indo-European *spre(n)ǵʰ- (“to move, race, spring”), from *sperǵʰ- (“to hurry”).

Similar and opposite words

Similar
ariseformboundjumpleapspringtimefountsource

SPRING has two familiar senses: a jump or leap, and the temperate season when daylight and temperatures rise. Its everyday familiarity makes it easy to overlook its unusual word-game shape: the letters have no anagrams, yet changing just one letter produces 13 neighbours. Those neighbours include close spellings such as STRING and SPRINT.

Spring at a glance

  • Spring is a six-letter word with two senses: a leap and a season.
  • Its Scrabble tile values add up to 9 points.
  • No other word in this word set uses exactly the same letters.
  • STRING and SPRINT each differ from SPRING by one letter.
  • The rhyme list follows the final sound in spring: “ing.”

What does spring mean, and how many points is it worth?

Spring means a leap or jump; it also names the temperate season when plants emerge and bloom, daylight grows, and dormant animals become active. The season sense shares an image with the action sense: something suddenly rising or moving forward. Both meanings belong to the same common six-letter word.

SPRING scores 9 Scrabble points before any board bonuses. S, R, I, and N are worth 1 point each; P is worth 3, and G is worth 2. That makes P the best tile to place on a bonus square, while the other five letters contribute a steady base.

Spring meaning, neighbours and rhymes

SPRING has no anagrams, so rearranging all six tiles does not make another word in this set. For a one-letter change instead, STRING adds T, while SPRINT replaces G with T. SPRUNG and SPRANG keep the opening SPR- but change the final two letters, making them easy to confuse when scanning a rack.

The rhyme list contains 12 words ending in the same “ing” sound, including BEING, THING, DOING, and GOING. These are sound matches, not anagrams: most do not share SPRING’s complete letter set. Check your game's word list before playing a neighbour, since familiar-looking forms can still differ across dictionaries.

Rhymes with spring

All rhymes

One letter away

Change one letter, keep the rest
  • STRING7
  • SPRINT8
  • SPYING12
  • SPRUNG9
  • SPRANG9
  • SIRING7
  • SPRONG9
  • SORING7
  • SERING7
  • SURING7
  • SARING7
  • SPAING9
  • SPUING9

Questions people ask

Is spring a valid Scrabble word?
Yes, SPRING is a valid six-letter word in Collins, NWL2023, and ENABLE. It has two meanings: a leap or jump, and the temperate season associated with rising warmth and new growth. Its tile value is 9 points before board bonuses.
How many points is spring worth in Scrabble?
SPRING is worth 9 points before premium squares. The P is the most valuable tile at 3 points, G is worth 2, and S, R, I, and N each add 1. A letter or word bonus can raise the total during play.
What words are one letter away from spring?
STRING and SPRINT are two familiar one-letter neighbours of SPRING. The full neighbour set has 13 entries, including SPRUNG and SPRANG. These words differ by one tile, unlike rhymes such as THING, which share a sound but not the same spelling pattern.

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