Words Ending in MENT

The MENT Suffix: Building Blocks of English

MENT is one of English's workhorse suffixes. It transforms verbs into nouns: MOVE becomes MOVEMENT, JUDGE becomes JUDGMENT, STATE becomes STATEMENT. What makes MENT words valuable for crossword solvers is their predictability -- if you know a verb, you probably know its MENT form. AILMENT, CEMENT, ELEMENT, FERMENT, and SEGMENT are crossword staples because they combine common letters with familiar meanings. In Scrabble, MENT words tend to be long (most are 8+ letters), making them candidates for bingo plays worth that 50-point bonus.

An interesting wrinkle: some MENT words don't follow the verb-to-noun pattern at all. CLEMENT means merciful (it's an adjective), CEMENT is both noun and verb on its own, and MOMENT has no obvious base verb. These oddballs trip up players who assume every MENT word is just a verb with a suffix. For crossword strategy, remember that MENT words overwhelmingly end in T, so if you see _____MENT in a grid, you're looking for a verb root in front of it. Check words starting with B for BEWILDERMENT and BEREAVEMENT, or explore words ending in AH for a very different suffix pattern. Words starting with PH also overlap here with PHENOMENON-type entries.

FAQ