The cheeky number plates the UK loves to buy

There is a very British pleasure in a number plate that makes you smile. Because numbers can stand in for letters, plenty of ordinary-looking plates quietly spell a word, and the cheekier ones are some of the quickest to sell.

How a plate spells a word. On a plate an 8 reads as a B, a 0 as an O, a 5 as an S, a 3 as an E and a 7 as a T. So BO08 reads as BOOB and FO07 reads as FOOT. Once you know the trick, word plates are everywhere.

How many sell. Over the last 30 days our figures from official DVLA new-reg data and newreg.co.uk show 188 current-style plates that read as a word, led by BOSS, BEST and ROSE. The DVLA already withholds genuinely offensive combinations, so the ones that reach the market are fair game, and the mildly cheeky ones are often the most wanted.

Why they sell. A plate that says something is memorable, it gets a reaction, and it is easy to describe to a friend. That makes word plates some of the best value in the market, because a small, everyday combination can carry an outsized appeal.

These figures are drawn from official DVLA new-reg data and newreg.co.uk and cover the last 30 days. If you fancy a plate that spells something, you can search at newreg.co.uk. This is general information, not advice.