Words That End In -OUS

Quick answer: There are 1,201 valid words that end in -OUS in the ENABLE word list this tool uses. Type your letters into the Word Unscrambler to find the ones your rack can actually play.

Top-Scoring Plays

Base Scrabble tile scores, before board premiums — the highest-value words that end in -OUS.

4 letters

nous, sous

5 letters

meous, pious, thous

6 letters

aurous, awmous, bayous, bijous, cerous, comous, cymous, famous, fucous, iodous, joyous, lupous, miaous, mucous, nodous, odious, osmous, parous, pilous, porous, poyous, ramous, rimous, rufous, rugous, sajous, serous, setous, torous, uveous, venous, vinous

7 letters

acajous, acerous, acetous, acinous, adipous, aeneous, agamous, amadous, amorous, anurous, anxious, apodous, aqueous, arduous, arenous, azygous, bilious, boubous, brumous, bulbous, bullous, burnous, cachous, callous, carious, caseous, chylous, chymous, cirrous, citrous, coccous, congous, copious, cormous, coypous, cuprous, curious, devious, dubious, duteous, emulous, envious, estrous, fatuous, ferrous, fibrous, folious, fulvous, fungous, furious, fuscous, gallous, gaseous, gibbous, globous, grumous, gummous, heinous, hideous, hugeous, hydrous, igneous, impious, jealous, leprous, luteous, nervous, nimious, niobous, nitrous, niveous, nocuous, noxious, obvious, ochrous, odorous, ominous, onerous, osmious, osseous, ozonous, pappous, parlous, petrous, piceous, pileous, piteous, pompous, pulpous, raucous, riotous, rubious, ruinous, sanious, sarcous, serious, simious, sinuous, spinous, spumous, talcous, tedious, tenuous, timeous, typhous, uranous, urinous, vacuous, various, vicious, villous, viscous, zealous, zincous

8 letters

acarpous, acaulous, aduncous, anginous, angulous, anserous, aphthous, apterous, araceous, arborous, arsenous, arsonous, astomous, bibulous, bigamous, bijugous, bimanous, biparous, biramous, butyrous, caducous, canorous, captious, caribous, cautious, cernuous, chlorous, chromous, citreous, corneous, couscous, covetous, crankous, cribrous, croupous, cumbrous, cumulous, cupreous, decorous, desirous, dextrous, didymous, diecious, digamous, dimerous, dioicous, dizygous, dolorous, edacious, elytrous, enginous, enormous, epigeous, eurokous, exiguous, eximious, fabulous, factious, fashious, fastuous, ferreous, feverous, flexuous, frabjous, generous, glabrous, glaucous, glorious, goitrous, gorgeous, gracious, grievous, griseous, gypseous, hamulous, humorous, ichorous, idoneous, imporous, infamous, lacteous, laminous, libelous, ligneous, luminous, luscious, lustrous, manitous, marabous, melanous, mucinous, muticous, mutinous, nacreous, nauseous, nebulous, nodulous, nubilous, numerous, numinous, ocherous, ochreous, oestrous, oogamous, orgulous, patulous, perilous, pervious, petalous, plumbous, pluvious, poaceous, polypous, populous, precious, previous, pyritous, racemous, ramulous, ravenous, resinous, rigorous, rosinous, ructious, sabulous, sapajous, saporous, savorous, scabious, scabrous, scarious, sclerous, sedulous, selenous, sensuous, sepalous, setulous, sombrous, sonorous, spacious, specious, spermous, spurious, squamous, stannous, stratous, strumous, studious, suberous, thallous, timorous, tinamous, titanous, tortious, tortuous, trappous, tuberous, tubulous, tumorous, tumulous, turacous, ulcerous, unctuous, unfamous, usurious, uxorious, valorous, vanadous, vaporous, venomous, venulous, vigorous, viperous, virtuous, vitreous, vomitous, wamefous, wondrous, xanthous

Game Strategy

In Scrabble, -OUS is a useful three-tile ending that turns many nouns into long adjectives (FAME → FAMOUS, DANGER → DANGEROUS).

Going Deeper

The -OUS suffix builds adjectives from nouns (FAME → FAMOUS, NERVE → NERVOUS, DANGER → DANGEROUS) and appears in many standalone words (PIOUS, VARIOUS, SERIOUS, OBVIOUS). It is a handy ending in tile games because it consumes an O, U and S together, often extending a stem to bonus length. Feed your rack to the unscrambler to find every -OUS play.

How to Use

1. Open the Word Unscrambler
2. Type your available letters (use ? or * for blank tiles)
3. Apply the starts-with, ends-with, or contains filter to match this pattern
4. Results appear grouped by length, sorted by Scrabble score

More Word-Ending Lists

How many words end in -OUS?

The ENABLE word list contains 1,201 words ending in -OUS, shown on this page grouped by length. The suffix is productive, so most of the count comes from adjectives built on nouns. Short -OUS words are scarce, with PIOUS among the few. Use the unscrambler with your letters to see which ones you can make.

What does the -OUS ending mean?

The -OUS ending forms adjectives meaning full of or characterised by, so FAMOUS is full of fame, NERVOUS is full of nerves and DANGEROUS is full of danger. It comes into English from Latin by way of French, which is why so many -OUS words have Latin roots. A second group are standalone adjectives with no obvious noun behind them, such as VARIOUS, SERIOUS, OBVIOUS and CURIOUS. All are valid in Scrabble and Words With Friends.

Is -OUS a good Scrabble ending?

The -OUS ending is a handy three-tile ending because it consumes an O, a U and an S together, which are often the awkward leftovers on a rack. Dumping a surplus U is worth something in itself, since a stranded U is one of the commoner causes of a stuck rack. The letters are all worth 1 point, so the value comes from length rather than tile score. Look for it when you hold a vowel-heavy rack you would otherwise exchange.

When does a word change spelling before -OUS?

Words often change shape before -OUS: a final E is usually dropped, so FAME becomes FAMOUS and NERVE becomes NERVOUS, but it is kept after a soft C or G to preserve the sound, as in COURAGE becoming COURAGEOUS and OUTRAGE becoming OUTRAGEOUS. A final Y turns to I, giving GLORY and GLORIOUS. Knowing the exceptions stops you rejecting a valid word on the board. Every form appears on this page.

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