| 100% | PITY | 4 | "The scavenger of misery," per Shaw |
| 52% | VULTURE | 7 | Scavenger of the skies |
| 49% | HYENA | 5 | Cackling scavenger of the Serengeti |
| 49% | HYENA | 5 | Laughing scavenger of the Serengeti |
| 48% | KEMP | 4 | Shawn of the Sonics |
| 48% | VULTURE | 7 | Aerial scavenger of the dead, carcass eater |
| 48% | STEPHEN | 7 | __ King, author of Misery, The Stand, It |
| 47% | ITSELF | 6 | The "se" of per se |
| 47% | ARTIE | 5 | Shaw of the big band era |
| 46% | KEMP | 4 | Shawn of the N.B.A. |
| 46% | OZYMANDIAS | 10 | The "king of kings," per a famous sonnet |
| 46% | HATRED | 6 | The "vice of narrow souls," per Balzac |
| 46% | MAN | 3 | The measure of all things, per Protagoras |
| 45% | CANAAN | 6 | The "Land of Promise," as per the Bible |
| 45% | RUTH | 4 | Compassion for the misery of others |
| 45% | EGO | 3 | Part of the psyche, per Freud |
| 44% | CHEETODUST | 10 | The "glitter of the snack world," per Ellen DeGeneres |
| 44% | RELIGION | 8 | “The sigh of the oppressed creature,” per Marx |
| 44% | POET | 4 | “The priest of the invisible,” per Wallace Stevens |
| 44% | SEWER | 5 | “The conscience of the city,” per “Les Misérables” |
| 44% | ARTIE | 5 | Clarinetist Shaw of the big band era |
| 44% | ARK | 3 | Vessel of gopher wood, per the Bible |
| 44% | SUPEREGOS | 9 | Censors of the censor, per Herbert Marcuse |
| 43% | ARDUA | 5 | Per ___ ad astra (motto of the Royal Canadian Air Force) |
| 43% | BEYONCE | 7 | Top Female Artist of the 2000s, per Billboard |
| 43% | BOYZIIMEN | 9 | Top musical group of the 1990s, per Billboard |
| 42% | SILVERAGE | 9 | The second of the five eras of man, as per Hesiod |
| 42% | MADONNA | 7 | The top Hot 100 solo artist of all time, per Billboard |
| 42% | NCOS | 4 | “The backbone of the Army,” per the U.S. Army |
| 42% | SOLITUDE | 8 | “The profoundest fact of the human condition,” per Octavio Paz |