What counts as a palindrome word
A palindromic word is one that reads the same from left to right and right to left. The idea is old and popular because it is easy to check and hard to invent: you can see in a glance that RADAR works and then spend a long time trying to find another that does. In a dictionary of 172,830 words, only 103 qualify. That is a rare feature, and it shows how much of English spelling is fixed by sound and history rather than by symmetry.
Palindromes show up in puzzles, classrooms and word games. Teachers use them to introduce the idea of reversal, puzzle setters hide them in grids, and Scrabble players notice them because they are easy to place: if a palindrome fits across, its reverse fits too. Below you will find every single-word palindrome in our word list, grouped by length with notes on the ones worth remembering.
Palindromes by length
| Length | Count | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 2 letters | 2 | AA and MM |
| 3 letters | 50 | ABA, AGA, AHA, ALA, AMA, ANA, AVA, AWA, BIB, BOB, BUB and DAD... |
| 4 letters | 13 | ABBA, ANNA, BOOB, DEED, KEEK, KOOK, NAAN, NOON, OTTO, PEEP, POOP and SEES... |
| 5 letters | 24 | ALULA, CIVIC, DEKED, DELED, DEWED, KAIAK, KAYAK, LEVEL, MADAM, MINIM, RADAR and REFER... |
| 6 letters | 7 | DENNED, HALLAH, MARRAM, PULLUP, REDDER, SELLES and TERRET |
| 7 letters | 7 | DEIFIED, HALALAH, REIFIER, REPAPER, REVIVER, ROTATOR and SEMEMES |
Every palindrome in the dictionary
Some of these are everyday words (LEVEL, RADAR, CIVIC, MADAM, KAYAK, NOON, REFER). Many are interjections or short words that word games accept: AHA, HAH, HUH, WOW, SOS and the Hebrew letter names VAV and WAW. Others are rare and best known to word-game players: DEKED, DELED, TERRET and SEMEMES are all valid, though you may never see them outside a game.
aa aba abba aga aha ala alula ama ana anna ava awa bib bob boob bub civic dad deed deified deked deled denned dewed did dud eke eme ere eve ewe eye gag gig hah halalah hallah heh huh kaiak kayak keek kook level madam marram mem mim minim mm mom mum naan nan noon nun oho otto oxo pap peep pep pip poop pop pullup pup radar redder refer reifier repaper reviver rotator rotor sagas sees selles sememes semes seres sexes shahs sis solos sos stats stets sulus tat tenet terret tet tit toot torot tot tut ulu vav waw wow yay
Palindromes that score well
Palindromes made of common tiles score low, as you would expect, but a handful carry valuable letters. These are the top scorers by Scrabble tile value.
| Word | Scrabble points | WWF points |
|---|---|---|
| KAYAK | 16 | 15 |
| HALALAH | 13 | 13 |
| KAIAK | 13 | 13 |
| REVIVER | 13 | 15 |
| CIVIC | 12 | 15 |
| DEIFIED | 12 | 12 |
| HALLAH | 12 | 12 |
| KEEK | 12 | 12 |
| KOOK | 12 | 12 |
| SEXES | 12 | 12 |
Tips for finding palindromes on a rack
- Look for pairs. A palindrome of odd length has a single middle tile and pairs on either side. If your rack holds pairs of E, S or A, test them as outer letters.
- Remember the short ones. Three-letter palindromes are the largest group, and several (WOW, HUH, SOS, TUT, GAG) play almost anywhere.
- Check the five-letter group for Wordle-style puzzles. ALULA, CIVIC, DEKED, DELED, DEWED, KAIAK, KAYAK, LEVEL, MADAM, MINIM, RADAR, REFER, ROTOR, SAGAS, SEMES, SERES, SEXES, SHAHS, SOLOS, STATS, STETS, SULUS, TENET and TOROT are the options, and a quick glance at your known letters will often rule most of them out. Our Wordle Solver will do it for you.
- Use the finder to explore. The Word Finder with a pattern like
r???rlists every five-letter word that starts and ends with the same letter, which narrows a palindrome hunt quickly.
For more unusual word groups, see words with all five vowels and words without vowels. To look for words hidden inside other words, try the Words in Words Finder.