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

There is more than one. 43 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 VEX or IRK. Four is FUSS if the clue wants the noun and RILE if it wants the verb, and this clue is very often the noun, so read the wording carefully before committing.

How many letters is the answer to "bother"?

Anything from 3 to 13. The length with the most candidates is 5. Count the squares in your grid and read only that row of the table.

How reliable are these answers?

32 of the 43 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

Bother crossword clue

43 words in our dictionary can answer the crossword clue "bother", from as short as 3 letters up to 13, grouped below by the length of your slot.

Written by Blake Boege

Answers by length

Everything below fits the clue. What separates them is length, running from 3 letters to 13, so find your row and ignore the rest.

Letters	Answers
3	rag vexconfirmed by two sources getconfirmed by two sources
4	fussconfirmed by two sources nark painconfirmed by two sources rileconfirmed by two sources fretconfirmed by two sources
5	annoyconfirmed by two sources 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 thorn
6	gravel hassleconfirmed by two sources nettleconfirmed by two sources putout chivvy harassconfirmed by two sources molestconfirmed by two sources plagueconfirmed by two sources rankle ruffleconfirmed by two sources
7	troubleconfirmed by two sources provokeconfirmed by two sources
8	irritateconfirmed by two sources distressconfirmed by two sources irritantconfirmed by two sources nuisanceconfirmed by two sources straiten
9	annoyanceconfirmed by two sources disobligeconfirmed by two sources incommodeconfirmed by two sources
10	discommodeconfirmed by two sources inflictionconfirmed by two sources antagonize
11	botherationconfirmed by two sources
13	inconvenienceconfirmed by two sources

What this list looks like

Length 5 carries 10 answers, the largest group on this page.

At 3 letters you have RAG and VEX and GET, and short answers like these turn up far more often than their share of the dictionary suggests.

21 of the 43 are not synonyms at all but specific kinds of what the clue describes.

Which one does the setter mean?

Three squares is VEX or IRK. Four is FUSS if the clue wants the noun and RILE if it wants the verb, and this clue is very often the noun, so read the wording carefully before committing.

How these differ

Bother is both an act and a state, which is why this list is long. As a verb it means to annoy, giving VEX, IRK, RILE, NETTLE, PEEVE, HARASS and PLAGUE in ascending order of persistence. As a noun it means the trouble itself, giving FUSS, NUISANCE, ANNOYANCE, TROUBLE and INCONVENIENCE. A third sense means to take the trouble, as in do not bother, and none of the answers here capture it. DISCOMMODE and INCOMMODE are the formal words for putting someone out and appear almost nowhere else.

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

No puzzle was consulted to build this page. Every word above is recorded by WordNet as meaning “bother” or as naming a kind of it, and each one is in the 173,000-wordlist this site searches. Moby Thesaurus lists 32 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 "bother"?: There is more than one. 43 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 VEX or IRK. Four is FUSS if the clue wants the noun and RILE if it wants the verb, and this clue is very often the noun, so read the wording carefully before committing.
How many letters is the answer to "bother"?: Anything from 3 to 13. The length with the most candidates is 5. Count the squares in your grid and read only that row of the table.
How reliable are these answers?: 32 of the 43 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.