"Um." "Like." "So, basically." "At the end of the day." If you've ever gone looking for filler words examples to figure out which ones you're guilty of, the honest answer is usually "more than you think, and more varieties than you expected." Filler words aren't just "um" and "uh" — they come in sounds, single words, whole phrases, and habits so automatic most speakers can't hear themselves saying them.
This is the complete list, organized by type, with real examples of each. Once you know the categories, you can listen to a recording of yourself and actually identify your pattern instead of vaguely knowing "I say filler words sometimes."
What Counts as a Filler Word?
A filler word is anything that fills space in your speech without adding meaning — a placeholder your mouth produces while your brain is still deciding what to say next, or while you're avoiding a silence that feels uncomfortable. The test is simple: if you removed it, would the sentence lose any information? If not, it's a filler.
That definition is broader than most people expect. Fillers aren't only the classic "um" and "uh" — they include entire words and phrases that have drifted into meaningless habit, even when they technically have a dictionary definition. "Actually" can be a real qualifier ("actually, the deadline moved") or a pure filler ("I actually think, um, actually, we should actually just go with option two"). Context is what separates the two.
The Complete Filler Words List
Sound fillers
The most recognized category — non-word sounds that fill a gap while you think.
- Um
- Uh
- Er
- Ah
- Hm
- Mm
These are almost always pure pause-avoidance. They carry zero information and are usually the easiest fillers to notice once you start listening for them.
Word fillers
Real words that have been drained of their original meaning through overuse as placeholders.
- Like ("It was, like, a really big deal")
- So (as a sentence opener: "So, I was thinking...")
- Well (as a stall: "Well, um, I guess...")
- Right (as a tic, not a question: "We finished the report, right, and then...")
- Okay / So okay (as a transition filler rather than agreement)
- Basically
- Literally (used for emphasis rather than literal accuracy)
- Actually (used as a stall rather than a genuine qualifier)
- Just ("I just think, just, we should just try it")
Filler phrases
Multi-word expressions that function exactly like a single filler word but take up more airtime.
- You know
- I mean
- Sort of / kind of
- At the end of the day
- To be honest / honestly
- Does that make sense?
- If that makes sense
- The thing is
- What I'm trying to say is
- Or something / or whatever
Qualifier fillers
Words that hedge a statement, often signaling the speaker isn't confident in what they're saying — sometimes appropriate, often a habit.
- Kind of / sort of
- I guess
- I think (overused as a reflexive softener rather than a genuine expression of uncertainty)
- Maybe (stacked in front of statements that don't need hedging)
- Probably (used defensively rather than descriptively)
Discourse marker fillers
Transition words that, in moderation, genuinely help structure speech — but that turn into fillers when repeated automatically at the start of nearly every sentence.
- Anyway
- Now
- So then
- Moving on
- Look / listen (as a verbal tic rather than a genuine attention cue)
False starts and repetitions
Not words at all, but a filler pattern: restarting a sentence, or repeating the first word or two while the rest of the thought catches up.
- "I I I think..."
- "The the thing is..."
- "We should, we should probably..."
- Abandoning a sentence halfway and starting a new one without finishing the first
Why These Specific Words Show Up
Every category above traces back to one of two root causes. Sound fillers and false starts are almost always cognitive load — your mouth is moving faster than your brain is planning, so it produces noise while catching up. Word and phrase fillers ("you know," "like," "at the end of the day") are more often pause aversion — a placeholder that fills silence because silence feels risky to hold.
Knowing which cause is driving your specific fillers matters, because the fixes are different. Cognitive-load fillers respond to slowing down and chunking your sentences into shorter, complete thoughts. Pause-aversion fillers respond to deliberately practicing silence until it stops feeling uncomfortable. Our full breakdown of how to stop saying um covers nine techniques mapped to exactly these two causes, so it's worth reading once you've identified your own pattern from the list above.
How to Use This List to Find Your Pattern
A list is only useful if you use it to diagnose yourself. Here's a simple process:
- Record two minutes of yourself talking about anything — a summary of your day, an explanation of your job, a practice run of an upcoming talk.
- Play it back with this list open and tally every filler you hear, by category. Most people are surprised to find they lean heavily on one or two categories rather than spreading evenly across all of them.
- Identify your top offender. Maybe it's "like" stacked into nearly every sentence, or a reflexive "right?" at the end of statements, or restarting sentences three words in. Whatever shows up most is your highest-leverage target.
- Practice removing just that one for a week before worrying about the rest. Trying to fix every category at once usually backfires, because you end up so focused on avoiding fillers that you stop focusing on your actual message.
This diagnostic habit works best as a repeatable routine rather than a one-time exercise — see our 20-minute at-home practice routine for a structure that builds this kind of recording-and-review habit into a few minutes a day instead of an occasional deep dive.
Are Some Filler Words Worse Than Others?
Density matters more than any individual word. A single "like" or "you know" dropped into a two-minute answer is invisible to most listeners. The same filler repeated every third sentence becomes the thing people notice instead of your message.
That said, some categories cost you more credibility per occurrence. Qualifier fillers ("I guess," "sort of," "maybe") are the riskiest because they don't just sound unpolished — they actively undercut your authority by signaling uncertainty about your own point. Sound fillers ("um," "uh") mostly cost you polish. Discourse markers used sparingly and intentionally ("now, let's look at the numbers") aren't fillers at all — they're genuine structural signposts, and the goal isn't to eliminate every instance of every word on this list, just the automatic, meaningless repetitions.
Track Your Filler Rate Instead of Guessing
Once you know your list of go-to fillers, the next question is whether your rate is actually improving — and that's hard to judge by ear alone, especially in the moment. SpeakUp is an AI speaking coach that listens to your practice sessions and automatically counts your filler words by type, alongside your pace and clarity, so you can see whether this week's "like" count beat last week's instead of relying on a gut feeling. The free plan includes five practice sessions a month, which is plenty to run the recording-and-review process above without spending anything.
FAQ
What are the most common filler words?
"Um," "uh," "like," "so," and "you know" are the most universally common across speakers, but most people also carry one or two personal favorites — a repeated "right?", a reflexive "actually," or a habit of restarting sentences. The list above covers all six categories, but your specific pattern is usually narrower than the full list, which is why recording yourself matters more than memorizing every example.
Is "like" always a filler word?
No — "like" is only a filler when it's not doing any grammatical work, as in "it was, like, really big." It's a real word when used for comparison ("she runs like a sprinter") or genuine preference ("I like this option"). The filler version is the one that could be deleted from the sentence with zero change in meaning, which is the same test that applies to every word on this list.
Are filler words a sign of low intelligence?
No, and this is one of the most persistent myths about speaking. Filler words correlate with cognitive load and pause aversion, not with how well you know your subject — plenty of subject-matter experts fill their explanations with "um" and "so" simply because their brain is juggling several things at once while they talk. The fix is a speaking habit, not an intelligence problem.
How do I know which filler words I use most?
Record yourself speaking for two minutes on any topic, then play it back with the categorized list above and tally what you hear. Most speakers are surprised to discover they lean heavily on just one or two categories — often either a specific sound filler or a specific phrase — rather than using all six types equally. That tally tells you exactly where to focus first.