Verbs That Start With P

260 words Words by letter Checked 9 Oct 2026

These verbs that start with P come from a standard English dictionary used for word games, ranked by how often each word is used in everyday writing. There are 260 verbs starting with P on this page. The 100 most common come first, each with a short meaning, followed by shorter, longer and easier picks and a filter for any ending or length.

P is a busy letter, with 260 action words. The short core is easy to learn: put, pay, pick, pull, push, pop and pack are all one syllable and great for beginners.

Many longer P verbs start with pre- or pro-, such as prevent, prefer, produce, provide, protect and promise. That pattern helps spellers guess the start of a word they hear. For persuasive writing, persuade, perform and participate give paragraphs more energy than plain do or make.

Verbs starting with P: 260
Most used: please
Longest common one: participate 11 letters

Most common verbs that start with P

Ranked by how often the word appears in English text. "Type" is the word's main part of speech.

#	Word	Meaning	Type
1	please	give pleasure to or be pleasing to	verb
2	put	put into a certain place or abstract location	verb
3	play	participate in games or sport	verb
4	pay	give money, usually in exchange for goods or services	verb
5	plan	have the will and intention to carry out some action	verb
6	project	communicate vividly	verb
7	present	give an exhibition of to an interested audience	verb
8	press	exert pressure or force to or upon	verb
9	provide	give something useful or necessary to	verb
10	pick	select carefully from a group	verb
11	pass	go across or through	verb
12	protect	shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage	verb
13	pop	bulge outward	verb
14	putting	put into a certain place or abstract location	verb
15	pull	cause to move by pulling	verb
16	push	move with force,	verb
17	prevent	keep from happening or arising; make impossible	verb
18	produce	bring forth or yield	verb
19	prove	be shown or be found to be	verb
20	promise	make a promise or commitment	verb
21	purchase	obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction	verb
22	pack	arrange in a container	verb
23	perform	carry out or perform an action	verb
24	prefer	like better; value more highly	verb
25	performing	carry out or perform an action	verb
26	promote	contribute to the progress or growth of	verb
27	prepare	make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc	verb
28	print	put into print	verb
29	paint	make a painting	verb
30	protest	utter words of protest	verb
31	picking	select carefully from a group	verb
32	pitch	throw or toss with a light motion	verb
33	participate	share in something	verb
34	pray	call upon in supplication; entreat	verb
35	posting	affix in a public place or for public notice	verb
36	pretend	make believe with the intent to deceive	verb
37	punch	deliver a quick blow to	verb
38	praise	express approval of	verb
39	polish	make (a surface) shine	verb
40	pin	to hold fast or prevent from moving	verb
41	pump	operate like a pump; move up and down, like a handle or a pedal	verb
42	pursue	carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in	verb
43	pat	pat or squeeze fondly or playfully, especially under the chin	verb
44	permit	consent to, give permission	verb
45	preserve	keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last	verb
46	proceed	continue talking; he continued,	verb
47	peer	look searchingly	verb
48	pepper	add pepper to	verb
49	pose	introduce	verb
50	pour	cause to run	verb
51	publish	put into print	verb
52	poison	spoil as if by poison	verb
53	predict	make a prediction about; tell in advance	verb
54	pretending	make believe with the intent to deceive	verb
55	possess	have as an attribute, knowledge, or skill	verb
56	pause	interrupt temporarily an activity before continuing	verb
57	pledge	promise solemnly and formally	verb
58	probe	question or examine thoroughly and closely	verb
59	propose	make a proposal, declare a plan for something	verb
60	puzzle	be a mystery or bewildering to	verb
61	punish	impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on	verb
62	pierce	cut or make a way through	verb
63	pioneer	open up an area or prepare a way	verb
64	plague	cause to suffer a blight	verb
65	prompt	give an incentive for action	verb
66	poisoning	spoil as if by poison	verb
67	pardon	accept an excuse for	verb
68	persuade	win approval or support for	verb
69	peel	strip the skin off	verb
70	pinch	squeeze tightly between the fingers	verb
71	ping	hit with a pinging noise	verb
72	pyramid	enlarge one's holdings on an exchange on a continued rise by using paper profits as margin to buy additional...	verb
73	positioning	cause to be in an appropriate place, state, or relation	verb
74	perceive	to become aware of through the senses	verb
75	posing	introduce	verb
76	preach	deliver a sermon	verb
77	pronounce	speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way	verb
78	plead	appeal or request earnestly	verb
79	portray	portray in words	verb
80	presume	take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof	verb
81	pairing	form a pair or pairs	verb
82	poke	poke or thrust abruptly	verb
83	purge	oust politically	verb
84	penetrate	pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance	verb
85	prevail	be larger in number, quantity, power, status or importance	verb
86	puff	smoke and exhale strongly	verb
87	prosecute	conduct a prosecution in a court of law	verb
88	persist	continue to exist	verb
89	pleading	appeal or request earnestly	verb
90	practise	engage in a rehearsal (of)	verb
91	prohibit	command against	verb
92	pivot	turn on a pivot	verb
93	provoke	call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses)	verb
94	paddle	propel with a paddle	verb
95	plunge	thrust or throw into	verb
96	postpone	hold back to a later time	verb
97	punt	kick the ball	verb
98	peck	hit lightly with a picking motion	verb
99	prompting	give an incentive for action	verb
100	prosper	make steady progress	verb

Positive verbs that start with P

protect
promise
prefer
praise
prompt
pardon
prosper
purify
poise
persevere
pamper

Short verbs that start with P

put
play
pay
plan
press
pick
pass
pop
pull
push
prove
pack
print
paint
pitch
pray
punch
pin
pump
pat
peer
pose
pour
pause
probe
peel
pinch
ping
plead
poke
purge
puff
pivot
punt
peck
parry

Long verbs that start with P

performing
participate
pretending
positioning
portraying
prioritize
perpetuate
precipitate
plundering
procrastinate
personalize
proliferate
precondition
professing
plastering
predominate
publicizing
pontificate
perpetrate
popularize

Filter all 260 verbs that start with P

Narrow the full list by ending, letters inside and length. The list updates as you type.

Ends with Contains Length Sort

Questions people ask

How many verbs start with P?

This list has 260 verbs starting with P, taken from a standard word-game dictionary and limited to words that appear in real English text.

What are the most common verbs that start with P?

please, put, play, pay, plan, project, present, press are the most used in everyday English.

What are some long verbs that start with P?

performing, participate, pretending, poisoning, positioning.

What are easy verbs that start with P for kids?

please, put, play, pay, plan, press are short, everyday examples.

Source: the ENABLE word list (a public-domain dictionary used for word games), ranked by how often each word appears in English text (the open wordfreq project), with short meanings from Princeton WordNet. Offensive words are left out.

See every letter on one page: verbs A to Z