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Study Resource: One-syllable adjectives that have ‘more’ / ‘most’ comparatives and superlatives

By: revel arroway

Usually, we form the comparative and superlative forms of one-syllable adjectives by adding -erand -est, but the adjectives in the table also have comparative and superlative forms that are formed by adding the words more or most.

Key to the tables below:

✅ → officially correct

❌ → officially incorrect

Forms in red are almost never used.1

Forms in gray are uncommon forms.1

Forms in white are common forms.1

Note: Sometimes forms that are technically incorrect are still used by native speakers!

1 In published writing, according to Google N-grams (2023)

Stem
- ercomparative
- estsuperlative
morecomparative
mostsuperlative
Notes

right

✅ righter

✅ rightest

✅ more right

✅ most right

wrong

✅ wronger

✅ wrongest

✅ more wrong

✅ most wrong

fun

✅ funner

✅ funnest

✅ more fun

✅ most fun

Many dictionaries do not accept funner/funnest

real

✅ realer

✅ realest

✅ more real

✅ most real

realestis sometimes used, but realer is very rare

ill

❌ iller

❌ illest

✅ more ill

✅ most ill

worth

❌ worther

❌ worthest

✅ more worth

✅ most worth

drunk

✅ drunker

✅ drunkest

✅ more drunk

✅ most drunk

Past participles never have -er/-est forms

lost

❌ loster

❌ lostest

✅ more lost

✅ most lost

bored

❌ boreder

❌ boredest

✅ more bored

✅ most bored

Tip

Check out our posts on English comparative adjectives and English superlative adjectives to learn more!

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