8-letter words ending in W

Final W is rare at any length, and eight letters is its peak: 120 words, against 117 at six letters and 100 at seven. Twenty-five end in -LOW and 16 in -ROW. Only 8 are common, so most of the list is compounds and specialist terms.

The W endings at a glance

• Of the 120 words, Collins takes 115, NWL2023 takes 85 and ENABLE takes 76.
• -LOW closes 25 words, -ROW closes 16, and -REW and -HOW close 9 each.
• O begins 16 words, S begins 13 and W begins 12.
• The 8 common words are BUNGALOW, CHAINSAW, OVERFLOW, OVERVIEW, TOMORROW, WITHDRAW, WITHDREW and WORKFLOW.
• CRACKJAW scores 26, and the average is 16.3.

Which stems recur?

-LOW is the biggest tail: BUNGALOW, UNFOLLOW and DISALLOW all use it. -ROW adds TOMORROW and HEDGEROW, and -RAW gives WITHDRAW. HAWKSHAW and KICKSHAW share a -SHAW ending.

Compounds fill much of the rest: OVERVIEW, LAKEVIEW, OVERFLOW, WORKFLOW, CROSSBOW, ROADSHOW and SIDESHOW. Many join a shorter word to a short W-ending.

Why does the average reach 16.3?

W is worth 4, so even a plain word starts ahead. CRACKJAW leads at 26, and HAWKSHAW, KICKSHAW, CHOWCHOW and STICKJAW all reach 24. The K, J and H tiles drive those totals.

CRACKJAW and STICKJAW are Collins-only. ENABLE holds 76 of the 120 and NWL2023 holds 85, so check your game's word list before trying either.

The pool shrinks quickly beyond this length. Nine-letter words ending in W number 45 and ten-letter ones 22, so eight letters is the last length with a deep supply of W endings. Keep that in mind when you are choosing which word length to aim for.

How does W compare with nearby endings?