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As the by-product generated during the production of manufactured sands, stone powder is urgent to be utilized due to the high disposal cost and environmental pollution. The main objective of the research is to clarify the viability of stone powders as partial replacement of cementitious materials for a value-added recycling. The paste and mortar samples incorporating limestone, granite, tuff and quartzite powders with different fineness were prepared, whose properties including setting time, compressive strength, dry shrinkage, pore structure and hydration process were studied. The results showed that the limestone and tuff powders shorten the setting time, while the granite and quartzite powders prolong the setting time of the blended pastes. The compressive strength of the mortars blended with quartzite powder was notably improved with the increase of the specific surface area of stone powders. Stone powders with different specific surface areas could potentially decrease the dry shrinkage of the blended mortars. Increasing the fineness of stone powder could reduce the proportion of harmful pores in cement paste. The peak reaction rate and 72 h heat release were improved obviously when the specific surface areas of limestone, granite and quartzite powder were about 500 m2/kg and was about 700 m2/kg for tuff powder.