Free crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “Free” are OPEN, EASY or SAFE, with 4 letters. Below are 112 answers from 3 to 15 letters, best match first in each length, then what each top answer means and how to tell them apart.

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The best answers, explained

RID 3 letters · verb

relieve from “Rid the house of pests”

OPEN 4 letters · adjective

affording free passage or access “open drains”

CLEAR 5 letters · adjective

free from confusion or doubt “a complex problem requiring a clear head”

RESIGN 6 letters · verb

part with a possession or right “resign a claim to the throne”

RELEASE 7 letters · verb

grant freedom to; free from confinement

INNOCENT 8 letters · adjective

completely wanting or lacking “innocent of literary merit”

AVAILABLE 9 letters · adjective

obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service “kept a fire extinguisher available”

AUTONOMOUS 10 letters · adjective

(of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment

INDEPENDENT 11 letters · adjective

free from external control and constraint “an independent mind”

UNRESTRICTED 12 letters · adjective

free of restrictions on conduct “I had unrestricted access”

COMPLIMENTARY 13 letters · adjective

costing nothing “complimentary tickets”

UNCONTAMINATED 14 letters · adjective

free from admixture with noxious elements; clean “an uncontaminated lake”

STRAIGHTFORWARD 15 letters · adjective

free from ambiguity “a straightforward set of instructions”

Telling them apart

With 4 squares, OPEN, EASY, SAFE, FAIR, PURE and BLOW all fit. The first letter tells them all apart: O → OPEN · E → EASY · S → SAFE · F → FAIR · P → PURE · B → BLOW. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 5 squares, CLEAR, LOOSE, SPARE, ATRIP, STILL and WHITE all fit. The fourth letter tells them all apart: A → CLEAR · S → LOOSE · R → SPARE · I → ATRIP · L → STILL · T → WHITE. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 3 squares, RID, BEG and BUM all fit. The second letter tells them all apart: I → RID · E → BEG · U → BUM. Fill in that crossing answer first.

Other forms of this clue

Clues often use another form of the word, and the answer then takes the same form: “freed” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “free” means

• verb: grant freedom to; free from confinement
• verb: relieve from
• verb: remove or force out from a position (“He finally could free the legs of the earthquake victim who was buried in the rubble”)
• verb: grant relief or an exemption from a rule or requirement to

A clue usually points at one of these senses, so the right answer is the one that matches the sense the puzzle means: check it against the crossing words.

About these answers

We match the clue against our own thesaurus and dictionary (Open English WordNet): words that mean the same as FREE, and words whose definition is FREE. We don't copy answers from newspaper puzzles, so a clue that leans on trivia or wordplay may need the crossing letters instead.