ABSTRACT: 1,545 words were rated for pleasantness by 26-33 college students. 274 of these words, selected on the basis of their high or low ratings, and 125 others were then rated by additional groups of 62-76 college students on 5-point rating scales for the dimensions of pleasantness, imagery, and familiarity. The resulting mean ratings were highly correlated with the ratings obtained by other investigators using some of the same words. However, systematic sex differences in the ratings were found. Females tended to use more extreme ratings than did males when rating words on the pleasantness scale. Also, females tended to rate words higher on the imagery and familiarity scales. These differences may represent cognitive differences between the sexes or merely differences in response style.