OBJECTIVES: To quantify the usual severity range of commonly-used descriptors for pain, and to assess whether or not these different pain descriptors are associated with different ranges of the numeric rating (NRS) scale. METHODS: Subjects were recruited by web posting and subsequently screened.  Those self-reporting active pharmacological treatment for Migraine, Low Back Pain (LBP), Osteoarthritis (OA), or Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) were scheduled for in-person interviews using card-sort exercises with pain descriptors selected by each subject.  For each selected pain descriptor, subjects associated the descriptor with one number on an 11-point NRS scale to identify the degree of severity they usually experienced for that pain sensation.  Each pain descriptor was summarized with descriptive statistics (mean, sd, range), to characterize the distribution of each word along the rating scale. RESULTS: Subjects (n=72) ranged between 19 and 84 years (mean age of 45).  The majority (68%) was female, 63% were working full- or part-time, and 61% were Caucasian.  Of the 18 descriptors used by the majority of subjects across conditions, the highest mean NRS values were found for EXCRUCIATING (mean=9.4), STABBING (7.6), and PIERCING (7.5). Low mean NRS values were found for TIGHT (5.0), STIFFNESS (5.0), and ANNOYING (5.1). Some descriptors were rated relatively consistently by subjects, as evidenced by low standard deviation and range (e.g., EXCRUCIATING, sd=1.1, range=5) while others showed more variability in placement on the scale (e.g., STIFFNESS, sd=2.8, range=10). CONCLUSIONS: While placement on an NRS ranges broadly, some descriptors are associated strongly with particular severity levels, while others are less precisely defined relative to severity.  These patterns in pain scoring should be accounted for when selecting descriptors for a pain PRO measure.