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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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