5 letter words starting with W

5 letter words starting with W with no vowel in them 3 words

Three words in the whole dictionary at this length: WRYLY, WYNDS and WYNNS. None of them holds an A, an E, an I, an O or a U, and in each the Y is doing the work a vowel would normally do. A WYND is a narrow lane, common in Scottish street names, and a WYNN is the old runic letter that used to write the W sound before the Norman scribes replaced it. If a grid has confirmed five squares with no vowel among them, this is the entire answer for this letter.

• wryly
• wynds
• wynns

5 letter words starting with W that close on a Y 41 words

Forty one words, and they are the reason W feels so awkward in a daily puzzle: the letter turns up at both ends of the word and neither position tells you anything about the other. WINDY, WITTY, WEARY, WOODY, WORRY and WORDY are the ordinary ones. WACKY, WHINY, WISPY, WONKY and WOOZY are the ones with a bit of value on a board, and WRYLY is the only entry that manages it without a single vowel.

• wacky
• waddy
• wally
• waney
• wanly
• warty
• washy
• waspy
• wavey
• weary
• webby
• wedgy
• weedy
• weeny
• weepy
• welly
• wenny
• wetly
• whiny
• whity
• widdy
• wifty
• wiggy
• willy
• wimpy
• windy
• winey
• wingy
• wispy
• withy
• witty
• womby
• wonky
• woody
• wooly
• woozy
• wordy
• wormy
• worry
• wryly
• wussy

The 5 letter words starting with W worth 15 points or more 22 words

A W is four points, so this page rewards a letter most players treat as a nuisance. WHIZZ runs away with it on twenty nine, because it spends two squares on the ten point tile. WOOZY takes twenty, then WACKY, WALTZ, WHACK, WHIFF, WINZE, WIZEN and WIZES tie on seventeen. Twenty two words clear fifteen in all and each carries its score beside it.

• whizz 29
• woozy 20
• wacky 17
• waltz 17
• whack 17
• whiff 17
• winze 17
• wizen 17
• wizes 17
• waxed 16
• which 16
• waxen 15
• waxer 15
• waxes 15
• webby 15
• whelk 15
• whisk 15
• whomp 15
• whump 15
• wimpy 15
• womby 15
• wonky 15

5 letter words starting with W that use each letter once 225 words

Two hundred and twenty five words, more than three quarters of the page, get through without repeating a character. That is the group to guess from, and the W words in it are unusually informative because the letter forces an odd second square: WAIST, WHORL, WRIST, WEIGH and WOMAN each test five separate ideas in one turn. WHIZZ, WEBBY and WHEEN are the shapes this section leaves out.

5 letter words containing a W that does not start them 379 words

Three hundred and seventy nine words carry a W away from the opening square, which is more than the 296 that begin with one. The letter behaves completely differently there: at the front it is a consonant, and in the middle or at the end it is usually half a vowel, as in ARROW, CROWN, DOWRY, POWER and SHOWN. AWFUL and TOWEL are the shape to look for when a grid has fixed a W in the second square.