This spam words checker scans a cold email for the words and habits that make filters and readers suspicious, scores the risk, and tells you what to write instead. Paste your subject line and body below. The example shows a badly written email so you can see how the scoring works.
Spam words checker
Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere. The check runs in your browser.
How to use the spam words checker
- Paste the subject line and the plain text body of your email. Leave the merge tags in if your sending tool shows them, because a broken tag is one of the things it checks.
- Read the score. 0 to 2 points is low risk, 3 to 7 is medium, 8 or more is high.
- Work down the list from the biggest points. Each line says what was found and a plainer way to say it.
- Edit in the box. The score updates as you type. Aim for 0 to 2 before you send.
- Click Copy report if you want to paste the findings into a doc or send them to a colleague.
How it works: the scoring rules
Words are one signal among many. Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo weigh your sending reputation, authentication and how recipients react far more heavily than any single word. So this tool does two jobs. It flags the language that makes a cold email look like a promotion or a scam to a person skimming it, and it catches the mechanical mistakes, like an unfilled {{first_name}}, that make an email look automated. Here is every rule and its points, so you can check the result by hand.
| Check | Points |
|---|---|
| Trigger phrase from the list (76 phrases in five groups: money, urgency, claims, pushy calls to action, phishing-style wording) | 1 to 3 each time it appears |
| Subject starts with Re: or Fwd: on a first email | 3 |
| Exclamation mark in the subject | 2 |
| Subject over 60 characters | 1 |
| Word of 4+ letters in ALL CAPS | 1 each, up to 5 |
| More than one exclamation mark in the body | 1 per extra, up to 5 |
| Unfilled merge tag, such as {{first_name}}, {company}, [First Name] or %NAME% | 3 each |
| Link shortener (bit.ly, tinyurl.com, t.co and others) | 3 each |
| More than 2 links in the body | 1 per extra, up to 3 |
| More than one money amount ($, € or £ followed by a number) | 1 per extra, up to 3 |
| Body over 150 words (over 250 words) | 1 (2) |
Phrases are matched as whole words, longest first, so "100% free" counts once at 3 points rather than as "100%" plus "free". The weights are our own judgment of how strongly each phrase reads as promotional or deceptive. They are not published by any mailbox provider, and no provider publishes a banned word list.
Two rules come straight from Google's email sender guidelines: don't put Re: or Fwd: in a subject unless the email really is a reply or forward, and make links visible and easy to understand. That is why a fake Re: and a shortened link score high.
What the tool cannot see: whether your domain has SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up, your sending volume, your bounce rate, or how many people mark you as spam. Our guide on why cold emails go to spam and how to fix it covers those.
Worked example
The example loaded in the tool scores 26. Here is the arithmetic.
- Subject "Act now: FREE pipeline audit!": "act now" 3, "free" 1, exclamation mark 2. Subtotal 6.
- Body phrases: "guaranteed" 2, "100% free" 3, "risk-free" 2, "limited time" 2, "click here" 3. Subtotal 12.
- ALL CAPS words FREE and GUARANTEED: 2.
- Unfilled merge tag {{first_name}}: 3.
- bit.ly link shortener: 3.
- Total: 6 + 12 + 2 + 3 + 3 = 26, high risk.
Now the rewrite:
Subject: Question about your SDR hiring
Hi Dana,
Saw you are hiring three SDRs in Austin. When teams add reps that fast, the first thing that runs short is a clean list of accounts to work.
We build those lists for sales teams. Would it help if I sent a sample of 20 accounts that match your last three deals?
Sam
Paste that in and it scores 0. It is also shorter, has no link, and asks a question the reader can answer in one word. If you are planning a sequence, our cold email follow up templates are written the same way.
What a good score looks like, and what to do next
A clean score is 0 to 2. At that level, words are not your problem. If emails still land in spam, look at these instead:
- Spam complaints. Google's guidelines tell senders to keep the spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.1% and never let it reach 0.3%.
- Authentication. SPF, DKIM and DMARC on the sending domain.
- List quality. Old or bought lists bounce, and bounces hurt your reputation. Read the checks to run before buying a B2B email list.
- The law. In the US, the FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says commercial email needs an honest subject line, your physical postal address and a clear way to opt out, and opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days.
Once emails land, measure replies. The cold email reply rate calculator shows whether a change in wording moved the number.
Clean copy only works if it reaches the right people. Find Customers has verified B2B lead lists and decision-maker lookups for your market.
FAQ
Do spam words still matter in 2026?
Less than most lists suggest. Gmail and Outlook decide mostly on sender reputation, authentication and how recipients react, and none of them publishes a banned word list. Words still matter in two ways: promotional wording makes people more likely to hit the spam button, and phishing-style phrases can trip content filters. Treat a high score as a sign the email reads like an ad.
What are the worst spam trigger words for cold email?
The phrases that look like scams or hard selling: "click here", "act now", "100% free", "guaranteed", "verify your account", "winner" and "no credit check". Fake urgency such as "limited time" and "last chance" also hurts. In this checker those carry 2 or 3 points each. Plain requests, like asking whether a sample would help, carry none.
Is "free" a spam word?
On its own it is a weak signal, so the checker gives it 1 point. It gets worse in combinations such as "100% free", "risk-free" or "FREE" in capitals, which read as advertising. If the offer really costs nothing, say exactly what the reader gets and for how long, for example "no charge for the first month".
How many links should a cold email have?
Zero or one in the first email. Links give filters more to check and give readers a reason to hesitate. The checker adds a point for every link past the second and 3 points for any link shortener, because Google's sender guidelines ask for links that are visible and easy to understand. Use the full URL on your own domain.
Is this the same as a full email spam checker?
No. A full email spam checker needs you to send a real message so it can test authentication, blocklists and server settings. This tool only reads the text, which makes it fast and private. Use it while writing, then test a real send from your domain before a campaign.
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