Speaking

Filler words in speech: the full list, and a fix for each

Published October 19, 2026 · By Simón Rendón

Filler words are the ums, likes, and you knows that come out when your mouth gets ahead of your planning. They fall into four groups: hesitation sounds, hedges, discourse markers, and verbal tics. Each group has its own trigger, so each needs its own fix. Below is the full list by group, what sets each one off, and the fix that works on it.

Key takeaways

• Filler words fall into four groups: hesitation sounds, hedges, discourse markers, and verbal tics. Each has its own trigger and its own fix.
• A closed-mouth pause of one to two seconds reads as composure to an interviewer; an um reads as panic.
• Record five minutes of speech a day and count your fillers to set a baseline. Sixty seconds works when you’re short on time.
• Replace stalling words with content openers like “The main tradeoff is…”, which buy the same time and force structure.
• Cut hedges on facts you know, but keep them on judgment calls so you don’t sound robotic.

What are filler words in speech?

Filler words are the sounds and short words (um, uh, like, so, right) that fill the gap while you decide what to say next. They aren’t random noise. Herbert Clark and Jean Fox Tree argued that uh and um work as words: a speaker uses them to announce a coming delay, uh for a short one and um for a longer one (Clark & Fox Tree, 2002). A filler is the sound of your planning falling behind your mouth.

That’s why fillers cluster in interviews and panels, not casual chat. When you’re holding an answer, reading the room, and watching your pace at once, working memory runs short and the gaps get longer. It’s also why a rehearsed script sounds fine and a live question falls apart: the load changed, not your fluency.

The full list of filler words, by type

Most filler words fall into four groups. Each group has a different trigger, which is why one fix rarely works on all of them.

Hesitation sounds: um, uh, er, mm

These fill silence while you search for the next word. They spike when you answer a question cold, like the “tell me about yourself” opener in an interview. The trigger is the gap itself, so the fix is to sit in a short pause instead of plugging it with sound. Close your mouth, hold one to two seconds, and start on your first real sentence. To an interviewer, that pause reads as thought. An um reads as panic, because it shows you noticed the gap and scrambled to cover it. The full method is in how to stop saying um.

Hedges: like, sort of, kind of, I guess

Hedges weaken a claim before anyone challenges it. They show up when you’re unsure whether you’re allowed to sound certain, which is common when junior people speak to senior panels. “I guess we could ship it” and “we should ship it” describe the same decision with opposite confidence. Not every like is a hedge, and only the hedging kind costs you; how to stop saying like shows how to tell them apart.

The fix: cut hedges on facts you know, and keep them on judgment calls. “I think the migration took three weeks,” said with the log in front of you, undercuts evidence you earned. “I think we should wait a quarter” is honest about a call that’s still open.

Discourse markers: you know, I mean, so, right, basically, literally

These are connecting words worn thin by repetition. They pile up when you’re explaining something under pressure, because each one buys a beat between sentences. One so per answer is natural; six is a habit. The fix is to spend that beat on words that carry meaning. “The main tradeoff is…”, “Let me give you an example…”, or a restatement of the question buys the same time and pushes you toward a structured answer.

Verbal tics: repeated words, trailing “and,” throat-clearing phrases

Tics are habits rather than word choices: saying “and and” while thinking, ending every list with “and yeah,” opening with “I just wanted to say.” They come out when you rush and your mouth runs ahead of your brain. The fix is to land each sentence with a full stop, then breathe before the next one. The breath gives your planning time to catch up, so the repeat has nowhere to go. How to speak more clearly covers finishing your sentences in more depth.

How do you find your own filler words?

You can’t fix what you haven’t heard. Most people underestimate their filler count by half or more, because their own ums vanish from their ears. The fix is a recording, a tally, and a note of what set each filler off.

The five-minute daily drill

Each day, record five minutes of yourself answering an interview question or explaining a project out loud. Play it back and tally every filler, sorted into the four groups above, then divide by five for a per-minute rate. After a week you have a baseline that every later session gets measured against. Five minutes daily beats an hour once a week.

Short on time, record sixty seconds instead: pick a prompt, give yourself ten seconds to think, and talk. The tighter version adds pressure, which brings out the fillers you reach for when you’re caught off guard.

Mapping each filler to its trigger

Next to each tally mark, note what was happening. Did the question surprise you? That’s a hesitation sound. Were you unsure of your claim? A hedge. Moving between points? A discourse marker. Rushing? A tic. Most speakers find one or two groups produce most of their fillers, and that tells you which fix to start with.

Why “just stop saying um” fails

Elimination-only advice adds a second task while you speak: answer well, and watch yourself. Under pressure the watching loses, and suppressed fillers come back as rushed pacing or trailing sentences. Replacement works better because it gives the gap something to do. A pause, an opener, or a breath fills the same moment a filler would, and none of them asks you to monitor yourself.

Replacement does need feedback on how you actually sound. Apps like Orai automate the counting and flag fillers as you speak, which saves the manual tally, but they catch the words, not the rushed pacing or flat delivery behind them. We built Cadence to catch the ums and rushed moments you can’t hear yourself: it flags fillers, stutters, and awkward pauses in every recording, in five quiet minutes a day.

How many filler words per minute is normal?

There is no fixed number that separates good speakers from bad ones, but a useful benchmark is roughly one filler every ten to twenty seconds, which reads as normal thinking. What listeners notice is clustering: fillers at the start of every answer, or right after every question. A rate that climbs the longer you talk usually means you’ve run out of prepared material, not that you lack fluency.

The better test is whether fillers are taking the place of silence. A two-second pause sounds calm; an um stretched across the same two seconds sounds rushed. If you’re preparing for an interview, keep fillers out of the two moments that matter most: your opening line and your closing ask.

Common questions

What are filler words in a speech?

Filler words are sounds and short words, like um, uh, like, so, and you know, that fill the gap while you plan what to say next. They fall into four groups: hesitation sounds, hedges, discourse markers, and verbal tics. Each group has a different trigger, so each needs a different fix.

How do I stop using filler words like ‘um’ and ‘like’?

Match the fix to the group. For um and uh, replace the sound with a closed-mouth pause of one to two seconds. For a hedging like, cut it on facts you know and keep it on judgment calls. For so and you know, start the sentence with a content opener like ‘The main tradeoff is…’ instead.

Are filler words always bad in an interview?

An occasional one won’t hurt you: roughly one every ten to twenty seconds reads as normal thinking. Fillers cost you when they cluster at the start of answers and between points, where a silent pause would have read as composure.

What can I say instead of ‘um’ when I need time to think?

Use an opener that carries meaning while you think: ‘The main tradeoff is…’, ‘Let me give you an example…’, or a restatement of the question. Or say nothing at all; a short silent pause reads as thought, not panic.

How do I find out which filler words I overuse?

Record five minutes of yourself answering a question each day, then tally every filler on playback, sorted into the four groups. Note what was happening at each one. After a week you have a baseline, and most speakers find one or two groups produce most of their fillers. Short on time, record sixty seconds instead.

References: Clark, H. H., & Fox Tree, J. E. (2002). Using uh and um in spontaneous speaking. Cognition, 84(1), 73–111.