A complete, filterable list of 117+ English words ending in -IVE — with definitions, word types, and difficulty ratings.
The "-ive" suffix marks adjectives of tendency or nature. "Active" means tending to act, "creative" means tending to create, "effective" means producing effects. The same suffix sometimes tips into noun territory: a "detective" is one who detects, a "native" is one born to a place. The dual use is worth knowing for reading comprehension across formal texts.
Part of speech: Mostly adjectives meaning "tending to," "having the nature of," or "performing" some action (active, creative, massive). Some are nouns (motive, native, detective).
"GIVE," "LIVE," "DRIVE" — many common English verbs end in "-ive" without the suffix, but the true "-ive" adjectives still give you useful word-game options in tight positions.
This list includes 117 English words ending in -ive, drawn from a curated dictionary of 10,000+ words spanning everyday vocabulary, academic terms, and word-game forms. The count focuses on base forms; inflected variants (e.g. plurals or conjugations) are counted separately.
Common examples from this list include: Active, Alive, . Use the difficulty filter above to browse easy, medium, or hard words separately.
Mostly adjectives meaning "tending to," "having the nature of," or "performing" some action (active, creative, massive). Some are nouns (motive, native, detective). Use the "Type" filter above to narrow the list to nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs specifically.
Most standard words on this list are accepted in major Scrabble dictionaries (TWL, SOWPODS). Some hard-difficulty words are archaic, borrowed, or dialect forms whose validity can vary between rulesets — always verify against the official word list for your competition or app.