A complete, filterable list of 29+ English words ending in -NESS — with definitions, word types, and difficulty ratings.
The "-ness" suffix is one of the simplest nominalisation tools in English: attach it to almost any adjective and you get a noun naming that quality as an abstract state. "Happiness," "sadness," "brightness," "loneliness" — these are all formed this way. Because the pattern is so predictable, encountering an unfamiliar "-ness" word rarely blocks comprehension.
Part of speech: Abstract nouns formed from adjectives. The suffix converts a quality into a state or condition (kind → kindness, dark → darkness, aware → awareness).
"-NESS" words are less common in competitive word play because N, E, S, S occupies four tiles. However, knowing shorter ones like "erness" prefixes can help you clear high-value letters.
This list includes 29 English words ending in -ness, 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: Business. Use the difficulty filter above to browse easy, medium, or hard words separately.
Abstract nouns formed from adjectives. The suffix converts a quality into a state or condition (kind → kindness, dark → darkness, aware → awareness). 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.