John Lennon had felt during his youth that "love had been the answer", and had written "The Word" as his "first expression" of the concept.

[4] It had marked the first time the Beatles had written a song about love as a concept, which would become important in the band's later work.

[5][6] Musically, the song is founded on a driving funk beat, with few chord changes and a simple melody in the key of D major.

"[10] However, Albano still considered the song "entertaining", and complimented the "piano backdrop" and Starr's drum performance.

[5][6] In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked "The Word" at number 33 on their list of the best Beatles songs.