Hit crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “Hit” are GAIN, BANG or SLAY, with 4 letters. Below are 55 answers from 3 to 9 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

OFF 3 letters · verb

kill intentionally and with premeditation

GAIN 4 letters · verb

reach a destination, either real or abstract

REACH 5 letters · verb

reach a destination, either real or abstract “The water reached the doorstep”

MURDER 6 letters · verb

kill intentionally and with premeditation “The mafia boss ordered his enemies murdered”

STUMBLE 7 letters · verb

encounter by chance “I stumbled across a long-lost cousin last night in a restaurant”

STRIKING 8 letters · noun

the act of contacting one thing with another

COLLISION 9 letters · noun

(physics) a brief event in which two or more bodies come together “the collision of the particles resulted in an exchange of energy and a change of direction”

Telling them apart

With 4 squares, GAIN, BANG, SLAY, PLAY, KILL and PICK all fit. The first letter settles most of it: G → GAIN · B → BANG · S → SLAY · P → PLAY, PICK · K → KILL. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 5 squares, REACH, SHOOT, SMASH, BRAIN, SHELL and BLAST all fit. The second letter settles most of it: E → REACH · H → SHOOT, SHELL · M → SMASH · R → BRAIN · L → BLAST. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 3 squares, OFF, PIP, BOX, POP, FLY and BAT all fit. The second letter settles most of it: F → OFF · I → PIP · O → BOX, POP · L → FLY · A → BAT. 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: “hits” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “hit” means

• verb: cause to move by striking (“hit a ball”)
• verb: hit against; come into sudden contact with (“The car hit a tree”)
• verb: deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument (“He hit her hard in the face”)
• verb: reach a destination, either real or abstract (“We hit Detroit by noon”)

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 HIT, and words whose definition is HIT. We don't copy answers from newspaper puzzles, so a clue that leans on trivia or wordplay may need the crossing letters instead.