5-Letter Words — Frequently Asked Questions

There are roughly 13,000 to 15,000 five-letter words in English, depending on the dictionary or word list used. There is no single definitive count because some sources include archaic, regional, and obscure words while others are more selective.

For example, the Collins Scrabble word list contains 12,915 valid five-letter words, while the North American NASPA word list contains about 9,500.

Our database contains 14,854 five-letter words, based on the Wordle answer list plus a broader allowed-guess list accepted by the game. This gives broad coverage of both common and less common valid entries.

E is the most common letter in 5-letter words, appearing in 10% of all letter positions. The vowels E and A along with consonants S, R, and T make up the bulk of English five-letter words.

As a starting letter, S is the most common at 11.2% of all 5-letter words, partly due to plurals and common consonant clusters like SC-, SH-, ST-, and SW-.

The maximum number of standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U) in a 5-letter word is 4. There are 38 words with 4 vowels, including ADIEU, AUDIO, OUIJA, and QUEUE. Most 5-letter words contain exactly 2 vowels.

There are 58 five-letter words with no standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U). Most rely on Y as a vowel sound, while a few loanwords use W instead (like CRWTH and CWTCH).

Of these, 13 are Wordle answers: GYPSY, LYNCH, CRYPT, NYMPH, LYMPH, PYGMY, TRYST, MYRRH, DRYLY, GLYPH, SHYLY, SLYLY, WRYLY.

The NYT Wordle answer pool contains 2,336 words. These are curated common English words with no obscure, offensive, or overly difficult terms.

The full list of valid guesses is much larger at 14,854 words. You can type any of these as a guess, but only the curated answer pool is used for daily solutions.

The Wordle answer pool currently contains 2,336 words, though NYT has expanded this list over time and may continue to do so. Since launching on June 19, 2021, roughly 1,748 daily puzzles have been played.

Yes. As of February 2, 2026 (Groundhog Day), Wordle officially started reusing previously used answers. The first repeat was CIGAR, which was also the very first Wordle answer from 2021.

Before this change, Wordle had never repeated an answer in over 4 years. Repeats are still rare, and most daily answers are still new words from the pool.

In the current Wordle answer list, regular plurals ending in S or ES (like FOXES, SPOTS) are excluded. However, irregular plurals do appear. FUNGI, TEETH, GEESE, WOMEN, and CACTI have all been Wordle answers.

Plural guesses are still valid if they are in Wordle's accepted guess list. The restriction only applies to which words are chosen as daily answers.

Several valid scoring methods exist, each optimizing for a different goal:

• Candidate elimination: simulates every guess against all 2,336 answers to find which leaves the fewest possibilities after one guess.
• Letter coverage: picks words that test the most common letters across all Wordle answers.
• Vowel-heavy: prioritizes identifying vowels early, useful for narrowing your second guess.

We ran all three methods against the full Wordle answer pool. Here are the top picks from each:

PARER is one of the hardest Wordle answers on record, with nearly half of players failing to solve it. The pattern that makes words truly hard is not rare letters but common letters in ambiguous positions.

Based on publicly reported player statistics. Fail = did not solve in 6 guesses.

The common pattern: words with double letters and many valid alternatives sharing the same feedback pattern (like _ARER, _ORER, _ILLY). Rare letters like Z or J actually make words easier because they narrow the possibilities immediately.