Words Ending in ING

-ING is the most recognisable ending in English, and WyldTyle's dictionary has 1,811 words of five to seven letters that use it. It is also worth 6 points on its own, more than -ED or -ER. The catch is the G: it sits on one face of the thirty-face consonant die, so you can't count on one arriving. This page lists the best -ING words at every length and explains how to build toward the ending without betting the slot on it.

How common is -ING?

In the seven-letter slot, about 7% of playable words end in -ING. That makes it one of the four big endings at that length, alongside -ED, -ES, and -ER. In the shorter slots it fades fast: there are only a few hundred six-letter -ING words and a few dozen five-letter ones. Four-letter words like KING, RING, and WING are left out here, since the -ING in them isn't really an ending.

The three letters score I 2, N 1, and G 3. That 6-point ending is a solid base for the seven-letter slot, which is already the slot most worth filling well.

The G problem

I and N are easy. N has three faces on the consonant die and I has two of the vowel die's ten. G has one face out of thirty. A typical game rolls the consonant die about two dozen times, so most games bring at most one G, and nearly half bring none. A wild can stand in for G, which is often the best use of a wild in the seven-letter slot, but you can't plan around wilds either.

So don't build the I-N first and then wait. Once a seven-letter word reads _ _ _ _ I N _, roughly four finishes in five need a G. Most of the rest end in S (RAISINS, COUSINS) or E (ROUTINE, MACHINE). That isn't much of a fallback.

• Place the G first. If a G arrives and the seven-letter slot is open, put it in the last square. A word that ends in G almost always ends in -ING, and I and N will come.
• Without a G, keep the ending open. Put letters at the front of the word and leave the last two or three squares empty. That keeps -ED, -ER, and -ES in play as well as -ING.
• Don't waste the G elsewhere. A G in a short slot is often worth only 3 points. In the seven-letter slot it can anchor a 15-to-20-point word.

The highest-scoring -ING words

The forty below score the most, at any length. The big ones double up on K, P, B, and C. They're there to show what's possible: in practice, any valid -ING word in the seven-letter slot is a good result.

The small number after each word is its WyldTyle score with no wild tiles. Letter values are on the scoring guide.

• YUKKING23
• YAKKING22
• BUCKING21
• KICKING21
• KIPPING21
• PUPPING21
• YUCKING21
• BABYING20
• BACKING20
• BIBBING20
• BOBBING20
• BOPPING20
• BULKING20
• BUMPING20
• CUPPING20
• FUBBING20
• KECKING20
• KEPPING20
• MUCKING20
• PACKING20
• PICKING20
• PIPPING20
• POCKING20
• POPPING20
• PUMPING20
• VALVING20
• VAMPING20
• YACKING20
• YAPPING20
• YIPPING20
• YOCKING20
• BALKING19
• BECKING19
• BILKING19
• BOMBING19
• BOOKING19
• BUFFING19
• BUGGING19
• BUMMING19
• BUNKING19

-ING words by length

The best -ING words for each slot length, highest scoring first. Where a length has more than sixty, only the top sixty are shown; the count beside each heading is the full total.

When -ING is the wrong plan

-ING ties up three of seven squares, and it needs a vowel and a G you may want elsewhere. If the dice are giving you D and E, or R and E, the -ED and -ER endings are cheaper to complete. And if you are chasing the 20-point Wyld Pyle bonus, a plain valid word in every slot is worth more than one big -ING word and an invalid slot elsewhere. The word endings guide compares every common ending at each length.