Spam word checker for cold email
Paste your email copy for a spam-risk score and the exact spam words to cut. The full list of all 66 spam words and phrases is published below, free, with no signup.
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Results
Paste your copy to see your spam-risk score.
Why word choice moves the needle
Triggers filters
Certain words and phrases raise red flags.
Protects reputation
Cleaner copy keeps your domain healthy.
Improves replies
Natural language gets real responses.
Better deliverability
Better placement. More conversations.
The full spam words list
These are the 66 words and phrases the checker above matches, grouped by how hard it scores them. No signup, no email required. Read the group that matches the offer you are writing, or paste your draft into the tool and let it find them for you.
Money words
12 words · 8 points per hit
The load-bearing vocabulary of real spam, which is why filters score it hardest. Price and promotion language belongs on a landing page or in a newsletter to an opt-in list, not in a first message to a stranger.
- free
- $$$
- cash
- cheap
- discount
- refinance
- no cost
- credit card
- lowest price
- best price
- 100% free
- for free
Write this instead. Name the mechanism, not the money. “Adds two or three booked calls a week” does work that “free” cannot.
Urgency words
12 words · 7 points per hit
Manufactured deadlines from someone the reader has never met. This is the oldest pattern in the training data, and it reads as pressure to a person as much as to a filter.
- act now
- limited time
- urgent
- expires
- hurry
- instant
- apply now
- deadline
- call now
- order now
- final notice
- don't delete
Write this instead. Let relevance carry the urgency. Reference something that just happened on their side, then ask a small question.
Salesy phrases
12 words · 6 points per hit
Landing-page language dropped into a one-to-one email. Every one of these signals a broadcast, and several of them are things only a person with a catch ever says.
- guarantee
- guaranteed
- risk free
- risk-free
- no risk
- no obligation
- click here
- buy now
- sign up free
- unsubscribe
- winner
- no catch
Write this instead. Trade the promise for evidence. What happened for someone in their position beats any guarantee.
Hype words
11 words · 4 points per hit
The lightest of the four groups, and still a tell. Superlatives get discounted by readers and add points with filters, so they cost twice and pay nothing.
- amazing
- incredible
- unbelievable
- miracle
- revolutionary
- breakthrough
- game changer
- game-changer
- world class
- cutting edge
- cutting-edge
Write this instead. Delete the adjective and say what the thing does. Plain and specific outperforms loud.
Spam phrases
19 phrases · 6 points per hit
Whole sentences rather than single words. They score because they appear almost nowhere except sales blasts, and a few of them, like telling someone your email is not spam, are self-defeating on their own.
- earn money
- make money
- extra income
- double your
- million dollars
- save big
- money back
- increase sales
- special promotion
- this isn't spam
- this is not spam
- you've been selected
- congratulations
- no strings attached
- once in a lifetime
- while supplies last
- act immediately
- life-changing
- life changing
Write this instead.Describe the outcome in the reader's own terms. If a sentence would sound strange said out loud to one person, it does not belong in a one-to-one email.
The structural flags scored alongside the words
Word choice is roughly half of it. An email with zero spam words but four links, an image signature and 300 words still reads as a newsletter blast. These are the other signals the checker counts, and what each one adds to your score.
| Signal | Scored as | Safe zone |
|---|---|---|
| ALL-CAPS word (three letters or more) | 4 points each | Zero is the safe number. Emphasis belongs in the sentence, not the case. |
| Run of !! or ?? | 3 points per character, capped at 6 | One exclamation mark at most in a whole email. None is better. |
| Raw HTML tag | 6 points each | Send plain text. Styled mail looks like a campaign, because it usually is one. |
| Link after the first | 5 points each | Zero or one link per email. Send the rest in the reply, once they answer. |
How spam filters read your cold email
Gmail and Outlook run every inbound message through content classifiers before delivery. Words tied to bulk marketing, plus visual noise like ALL-CAPS and rows of exclamation marks, push your spam score up. Enough signals and you land in Promotions or Junk, no matter how warm your domain is.
The fix is boring on purpose: write like a person emailing one other person. Short sentences, no hype, zero or one link, and a plain-text feel. For the reasoning behind each word above and what to write in its place, read the 15 spam trigger words killing your deliverability guide. This checker is a fast gut-check on the copy, not a guarantee. Pair it with the deliverability checker for the domain side (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) of the equation.
Spam words, answered
What is a spam word checker?+
A spam word checker reads an email before you send it and flags the words and patterns that spam filters score against you. This one scans your subject line and body for 66 known spam words and phrases, then adds the structural signals filters also weigh: ALL-CAPS words, runs of exclamation marks, raw HTML, and link count. You get a 0 to 100 risk score and the exact words to cut.
Do spam trigger words still get emails blocked?+
Not on their own. Filters score cumulatively, so words sit alongside sender reputation, engagement history, and message structure. A warmed domain sending a plain, personal email can say “free” and still land. A young domain saying “free” next to three links and an ALL-CAPS subject is a different message to a filter.
How many spam words are too many?+
There is no fixed cliff, which is why the checker scores instead of counting. Money words carry the heaviest weight at 8 points a hit and hype words the lightest at 4. Under 20 reads as low risk here, 20 to 44 is worth a cleanup pass, and 45 or above means enough signals have stacked up to expect filtering.
Which words should I avoid in cold email?+
The four groups in the list on this page, in the order they are scored. Money language (free, discount, cash), urgency language (act now, limited time, expires), salesy phrases (guarantee, risk-free, click here), and hype (amazing, revolutionary, game-changer). Each one has a plain replacement. Say what the thing does, for whom, in the words you would use out loud.
Do spam words matter in the subject line?+
Yes, and the subject line is the harder place to get away with one. It is short, so a single trigger word is a much larger share of the text than the same word buried in a paragraph. Paste your subject and body together so the checker scores both.
Does this spam checker send my email anywhere?+
No. The whole check runs in your browser. Nothing you paste is uploaded, logged, or stored, so it is safe to test live client copy.
Will a clean spam score get me to the inbox?+
It removes one reason to filter you. It does not fix the others. Inbox placement also depends on SPF, DKIM and DMARC being correct, the domain being warmed, the list being clean, and the sending volume being sane. Copy is the part you control per email; reputation is the part you control per domain.
How often should I run copy through it?+
Once per email before the sequence goes live, and again after any rewrite. A five-email sequence is five checks. Filters judge the sending domain over time, so one loose email in the middle of a sequence drags the ones around it.