What is the answer to the crossword clue "annoy"?

There is more than one. 27 words in our dictionary fit this clue, and which one a puzzle wants depends on the length of the slot and the crossing letters. Three squares is IRK or VEX, and VEX is the more common in puzzles because the X is worth having. If the grid needs a different third letter, RAG also works and means to tease rather than to irritate.

How many letters is the answer to "annoy"?

Anything from 3 to 10. The length with the most candidates is 6. Count the squares in your grid and read only that row of the table.

How reliable are these answers?

20 of the 27 appear in two independently compiled reference works, WordNet and Moby Thesaurus, rather than one. All of them are in the 173,000-word dictionary this site searches. None of them comes from any published puzzle.

Crossword clue

Annoy crossword clue

27 words in our dictionary can answer the crossword clue "annoy", from as short as 3 letters up to 10, grouped below by the length of your slot.

Written by Blake Boege

Answers by length

7 different lengths answer this one. Yours is whichever row matches the squares in the grid.

Letters	Answers
3	rag vexconfirmed by two sources getconfirmed by two sources
4	nark rileconfirmed by two sources fretconfirmed by two sources
5	chafeconfirmed by two sources devilconfirmed by two sources besetconfirmed by two sources chevy chivyconfirmed by two sources grate harryconfirmed by two sources peeveconfirmed by two sources
6	botherconfirmed by two sources gravel nettleconfirmed by two sources chivvy harassconfirmed by two sources hassleconfirmed by two sources molestconfirmed by two sources plagueconfirmed by two sources rankleconfirmed by two sources ruffleconfirmed by two sources
7	provokeconfirmed by two sources
8	irritateconfirmed by two sources
10	antagonize

What this list looks like

The 6-letter row is the crowded one, holding 10 of the 27.

The short ones are worth learning: RAG, VEX, GET at 3 letters, which is where a setter goes when the grid is tight.

10 of these mean the same as the clue and 17 are kinds of it, which is a distinction worth holding on to when two look equally good.

Which one does the setter mean?

Three squares is IRK or VEX, and VEX is the more common in puzzles because the X is worth having. If the grid needs a different third letter, RAG also works and means to tease rather than to irritate.

How these differ

The short ones differ in force. VEX and IRK are mild and mental. RILE and NETTLE mean to provoke a visible reaction, NETTLE from the plant. PEEVE is petty by definition, which is why a pet peeve is small. CHAFE is friction, literal or otherwise, repeated over time. HARASS, PLAGUE and MOLEST are all much stronger and imply persistence rather than a single irritation. CHEVY, CHIVY and CHIVVY are the same British word spelled three ways and mean to hurry someone along by nagging.

Still stuck? Filter by the letters you have

Got a crossing letter? The word finder searches the same dictionary as this page, with a box for the first letter, the last, and anything in between.

Where these answers come from

This is a dictionary answering a question, not a copied answer key. Every word above is recorded by WordNet as meaning “annoy” or as naming a kind of it, and each one is in the 173,000-wordlist this site searches. Moby Thesaurus lists 20 of them too. We hold no newspaper's answer key and reproduce no published crossword.

Common questions

What is the answer to the crossword clue "annoy"?: There is more than one. 27 words in our dictionary fit this clue, and which one a puzzle wants depends on the length of the slot and the crossing letters. Three squares is IRK or VEX, and VEX is the more common in puzzles because the X is worth having. If the grid needs a different third letter, RAG also works and means to tease rather than to irritate.
How many letters is the answer to "annoy"?: Anything from 3 to 10. The length with the most candidates is 6. Count the squares in your grid and read only that row of the table.
How reliable are these answers?: 20 of the 27 appear in two independently compiled reference works, WordNet and Moby Thesaurus, rather than one. All of them are in the 173,000-word dictionary this site searches. None of them comes from any published puzzle.