Compound Words | List, Examples & Meaning

A compound word includes two (and sometimes three) words that function as a single word with a specific meaning. There are three types of compound words in English:

• Open (e.g., “line dancing” and “soap opera”)
• Hyphenated (e.g., “mind-blowing” and “double-check”)
• Closed (e.g., “sunglasses” and “wildflower”)

Compound words are some of the most fun and interesting words in the English language. But how do you remember when to use spaces, hyphens, or one word?

The lists and examples below show the correct format for 150+ compound words. To continue practicing compound words, follow the links at the end of this article to print or download QuillBot’s free compound words worksheet and compound words list.

QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can also show you how to format compound words in virtually any piece of writing.

What are compound words?

Compound words combine two or three words to communicate one specific meaning that is different than the individual words by themselves. When you use a compound word in a sentence, it doesn’t mean the same thing if you remove any of its parts.

The majority of compound words are compound nouns (e.g., “candy cane,” “sister-in-law,” or “dragonfly”), but they can also be these parts of speech:

• Verbs (e.g., “eavesdrop,” “outlast,” “find out,” or “show up”)
• Adjectives (e.g., “trustworthy,” “clean-cut,” or “old-fashioned”)
• Adverbs (e.g., “furthermore” and “someday”)
• Prepositions (e.g., “into” or “outside”)
• Indefinite pronouns (e.g., “anybody” “something,” or “no one”)

All of the reflexive pronouns (e.g. “yourself”) and reciprocal pronouns (e.g., “each other” and “one another”) are compound words, too.

Each compound word is one of three possible types:

• Open (two words)
• Hyphenated (e.g., merry-go-round)
• Closed (one word with no spaces).

Each section that follows includes a list of compound words for each type along with some tips to help you use them correctly.

Open compound words

Open compound words have spaces between the individual words, and they tend to be verbs or nouns. All phrasal verbs (e.g., “hang out”) are open compounds written as two or three words. Open compounds that are nouns are usually made from an adjective and a noun (e.g., “hot chocolate”).

Hyphenated compound words

Many compound words in English are usually written with hyphens. Hyphenated compound words include (but are not limited to) the following:

• All compound words with three parts (e.g., “mother-in-law,” “merry-go-round,” and “over-the-counter”)
• Most of the compound adjectives that are fixed compounds (in the dictionary), especially the ones that are a noun + adjective (e.g., “cost-effective” and “world-famous”)
• Some of the compound nouns that come from phrasal verbs (e.g., “do-over,” “close-up,” and “follow-up”)

Closed compound words

Closed compound words do not have lines or spaces. There are hundreds of them, and while most of them are nouns (e.g., “cowgirl”) or adjectives (e.g., “hardworking”) they also include the following:

• Conjunctive adverbs (e.g., “furthermore,” “morever,” and “however”)
• Compound verbs that aren’t phrasal verbs (e.g., “download,” “cannot,” “proofread,” and “babysit”)
• Most of the indefinite pronouns that are compounds (e.g., “everyone” and “someone”)
• Some of the compound prepositions (e.g., “into,” “without,” and “outside”)

Common mistakes with compound words

A common mistake with compound words is to confuse commonly-used closed compounds (e.g., “anymore,” “everyday,” and “everyone”) with a two-word version that has a different meaning.

Another common mistake is to mix up phrasal verbs (a type of open compound word) with their associated compound nouns and compound adjectives (e.g., the verb “check up” and the noun “checkup”). Many phrasal verbs can become nouns or adjectives, but they’re formatted as closed or hyphenated compound words.

Compound words worksheet

To test your knowledge of compound words, be sure to visit QuillBot’s free Compound Words Worksheet. Follow the link to download the worksheet and answer key.

Compound words list

When you need to look up a compound word to find out if it’s open, closed, or hyphenated (or if you just want to marvel at the abundance of English compound words), check out QuillBot’s free Compound Words List.

Frequently asked questions about compound words

Are all compound words nouns?

Some but not all compound words are nouns. Common compound nouns include “airport,” “grandparent,” “sandbox,” “yard sale,” and “merry-go-round.” Compound words can also be other parts of speech:

• Adjectives (e.g., “middle-aged” or “everlasting”)
• Adverbs (e.g., “clockwise” or “anymore”)
• Verbs (e.g., “eavesdrop” or “foreclose”)
• Phrasal verbs (e.g., “bring up” or “give away”)
• Prepositions (e.g., “into” or “outside”)
• Indefinite pronouns (e.g., “anybody” or “no one”)

Compound words can be tricky because some of them are closed (one word with no hyphen), and others are open (two words) or hyphenated. Luckily, the QuillBot Grammar Checker can help you format compound words correctly.

How do you hyphenate a three-word compound adjective?

In a three-word compound adjective, a hyphen is typically used between each word in the sequence (e.g., “a well-thought-out plan”).

When a three-word compound adjective incorporates a compound proper noun, such as “New York,” it is generally unnecessary to use a hyphen between the words that comprise the proper noun (e.g., “New York-style,” “Great Gatsby-themed,” “Franz Kafka-inspired”).

In cases like these, many writers use an en dash instead of a hyphen (e.g., “New York–style”) to emphasize that both words of the compound noun are connected to the other word to form the compound adjective.

The QuillBot Grammar Checker can help ensure you’re using hyphens and compound words correctly.

What is a compound modifier?

A compound modifier is two or more words that act as a single adjective to modify a noun. Another term for this is “compound adjective.”

For example, in the sentence “The committee hired a well-known author to speak at the conference,” the compound modifier “well-known” describes the noun “author.”

Compound modifiers are often connected with a hyphen (e.g., “my eight-year-old daughter” or “self-cleaning oven”).

When you’re writing with compound modifiers and other compound words, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you avoid errors.

What are some common compound words?

Some of the most common compound words include the following:

• Compound nouns like “airplane,” “bookshelf,” “peanut butter,” and “watermelon”
• All of the phrasal verbs (e.g., “hang out” and “dive in”)
• The indefinite pronouns “everyone,” “someone,” and “anybody”
• The prepositions “into,” “outside,” and “without”
• Compound adjectives like “old-fashioned”

Compound words can be closed (one word with no hyphen), open (two words), or hyphenated. When you’re writing with compound words, the QuillBot Grammar Checker will ensure that they’re spelled and formatted correctly.