Most crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “Most” are NEAR, NIGH or GOOD, with 4 letters. Below are 48 answers from 3 to 11 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

LOW 3 letters · adjective

of the most contemptible kind “a low stunt to pull”

NEAR 4 letters · adverb

(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but “he nearly fainted”

ABOUT 5 letters · adverb

(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but “the job is (just) about done”

NEARLY 6 letters · adverb

(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but “he nearly fainted”

SPECIAL 7 letters · adjective

first and most important “his special interest is music”

DOMINANT 8 letters · adjective

most frequent or common

VIRTUALLY 9 letters · adverb

(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but “virtually all the parties signed the contract”

PARTICULAR 10 letters · adjective

first and most important “she gets special (or particular) satisfaction from her volunteer work”

PRINCIPALLY 11 letters · adverb

for the most part

Telling them apart

With 4 squares, NEAR, NIGH, GOOD, LAST, BEST and MAIN all fit. The first letter settles most of it: N → NEAR, NIGH · G → GOOD · L → LAST · B → BEST · M → MAIN. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 5 squares, ABOUT, RIGHT, CHIEF, GRAND and PRIMA all fit. The first letter tells them all apart: A → ABOUT · R → RIGHT · C → CHIEF · G → GRAND · P → PRIMA. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 6 squares, NEARLY, MASTER, MAINLY, ABJECT, SCURVY and SCUMMY all fit. The third letter settles most of it: A → NEARLY · S → MASTER · I → MAINLY · J → ABJECT · U → SCURVY, SCUMMY. 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: “mosts” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “most” means

• adverb: used to form the superlative, greatest in size or degree (“the king cobra is the most dangerous snake”)
• adverb: very (“a most welcome relief”)
• adverb: (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but (“most everyone agrees”)
• adjective: (superlative of ‘many’ used with count nouns and often preceded by ‘the’) quantifier meaning the greatest in number (“who has the most apples?”)

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