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5 Letter Words Starting With Y
Looking for five-letter words that begin with Y? There are 176 valid 5 letter words starting with Y, and 6 of them are common everyday words. The most used is young. Add your Wordle clues to the finder, or browse the lists below, sorted from most to least common. For every other letter, use our five letter word finder.
Narrow it down with your Wordle clues
Shows every 5 letter word you can make using only these letters. Each letter can be used as many times as you type it.
5 letter words starting with Y at a glance
- Valid words
- 176
- Common words
- 6
- Most common
- young
- Top Scrabble score (common)
- yummy 15 pts
- Top Scrabble score (all)
- yukky 19 pts
- Best Wordle guess in this set
- youth
- The 2nd letter is O in 33% of common words.
- The 3rd letter is U in 33% of common words.
- The 4th letter is N in 17% of common words.
- The 5th letter is T in 33% of common words.
Common 5 letter words starting with Y (6)
The words with 5 letters starting with Y you're most likely to know, most used first.
- young9
- youth11
- yield9
- yacht13
- yeast8
- yummy15
How to find a five-letter word that starts with a Y
Looking for 5 letter words that start with Y to solve a Wordle? The finder above already has Y in the first green box; add your other clues.
A real example from our word list: the answer is YERBA, and all you know is that it starts with Y, which leaves 22 everyday words. Open with YAMEN, the guess that splits this set most evenly.
Guess 1: YAMEN Y is green and A and E are yellow, and the rest are grey. That leaves 2 possible answers: yeast and yerba.
Guess 2: YEAST Y and E are green and A is yellow, and the rest are grey. That leaves 1 possible answer.
Guess 3: YERBA All five letters are green. Solved in 3.
What comes after Y?
In everyday words that start with Y, the second letter is most often O (36%), A (27%) and U (18%). 100% have a vowel second, so if your consonant guesses keep missing, try A, E, I, O or U in the second spot.
| Starts with | Number of everyday words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| YO | 8 | young, youth, yodel, yoked |
| YA | 6 | yahoo, yacht, yager, yappy |
| YU | 4 | yummy, yucca, yucky, yuppy |
| YE | 3 | yeast, yearn, yerba |
| YI | 1 | yield |
What the most common ones mean
- young
- adjective(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
- youth
- nouna young person (especially a young man or boy)
- yield
- verbbe the cause or source of
- yacht
- nounan expensive vessel propelled by sail or power and used for cruising or racing
- yeast
- nouna commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells
- yummy
- adjectiveextremely pleasing to the sense of taste
Definitions from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University.
About 5 letter words starting with Y
At the start of a word, Y acts as a consonant, as in young, yield and yacht. That's different from Y at the end of a word, where it often works as a vowel. The list of common Y words is short, and many of the rest are borrowed words. In Wordle, an opening Y is rare, so only commit to it when your other guesses point there.
Y is one of the least common first letters for 5 letter words, ranking 22 out of 26.
Word families that start with Y
Common Y-first words include yeast and youth. In each one, Y is followed by a vowel, which is a sign that it's acting as a consonant. Y words are rare as Wordle answers, so a Y that comes back yellow is far more likely to belong at the end of the word, where it often works as a vowel. For that much larger group, see 5 letter words ending in Y. In Scrabble, Y is worth 4 points, so even short Y words score well.
Vowels in 5 letter words starting with Y
A is the most common vowel here, appearing in 45% of the everyday words, followed by E (45%) and O (41%). The least common is I (9%).
27% have just one vowel, like yacht, yummy, yucky and yappy. At the other end, yahoo and youse have three or more.
Nouns, verbs and adjectives
By main meaning (WordNet), there are 6 nouns, 4 adjectives and 2 verbs.
Nouns include youth, yahoo and yacht. Adjectives include young, yummy and yucky. Verbs include yield and yearn.
Best Wordle guesses that start with Y
Top guesses, with the average number of the 22 everyday words each leaves: YAMEN (2.6), YAGER (2.9), YOKED (3.0), YOKEL (3.0) and YOUSE (3.1).
32% repeat a letter, and 6 have a double letter, like yahoo, yummy, yucca and yappy.
Highest-scoring 5 letter words starting with Y in Scrabble
Top everyday words: yucky (17), yummy (15) and yappy (15). All valid words: yukky (19), yucky (17) and yuzus (17). 19 words reach 15 points or more.
All 176 valid 5 letter words starting with Y170 rarer words accepted in Scrabble and Wordle, not shown above. Plurals are marked.
- years8plural
- yours8plural
- yards9plural
- yahoo11
- yates8plural
- yells8plural
- yikes12plural
- yanks12plural
- yearn8
- yarns8plural
- yolks12plural
- yawns11plural
- yucca12
- yorks12plural
- yucky17
- yerba10
- yodel9
- yoked13
- yogic11
- yogis9plural
- youse8
- yeahs11plural
- yelps10plural
- yokes12plural
- yager9
- yurts8plural
- yeses8plural
- yogas9plural
- yokel12
- yukos12plural
- yetis8plural
- yappy15
- yabba12
- yangs9plural
- yamen10
- yonks12
- yipes10plural
- yuppy15
- yippy15
- yowie11
- yakka16
- yugas9plural
- yabby15
- yogin9
- yoker12
- yeard9
- yowls11plural
- yourn8
- yucks14plural
- yulan8
- yummo12
- yuans8plural
- yenta8
- yobbo12
- yonis8plural
- yawls11plural
- yente8
- yolky15
- yawed12
- yales8plural
- yaars8plural
- yabas10plural
- yacca12
- yacka14
- yacks14plural
- yaffs14plural
- yagis9plural
- yaird9
- yakow15
- yampy15
- yamun10
- yapok14
- yapon10
- yapps12plural
- yarco10
- yarer8
- yarfa11
- yarks12plural
- yarrs8plural
- yarta8
- yarto8
- yauds9plural
- yauld9
- yaups10plural
- yawey14
- yawny14
- yawps13plural
- ybore10
- yclad11
- ycled11
- ycond11
- ydrad10
- ydred10
- yeads9plural
- yealm10
- yeans8plural
- yecch15
- yechs13plural
- yechy16
- yedes9plural
- yeeds9plural
- yeggs10plural
- yelks12plural
- yelms10plural
- yelts8plural
- yerds9plural
- yerks12plural
- yesks12plural
- yests8plural
- yesty11
- yetts8plural
- yeuks12plural
- yeuky15
- yeven11
- yeves11plural
- yewen11
- yexed16
- yexes15plural
- yfere11
- yiked13
- yills8plural
- yince10
- yirds9plural
- yirks12plural
- yirrs8plural
- yirth11
- yites8plural
- yitie8
- ylems10plural
- ylike12
- ylkes12plural
- ymolt10
- ympes12plural
- yocks14plural
- yodhs12plural
- yodle9
- yogee9
- yoghs12plural
- yoick14
- yojan15
- yokul12
- yomim12
- yomps12plural
- yonic10
- yoofs11plural
- yoops10plural
- yores8plural
- yorps10plural
- youks12plural
- yourt8
- yowed12
- yowes11plural
- yrapt10
- yrent8
- yrivd12
- yrneh11
- ysame10
- ytost8
- yucas10plural
- yucch15
- yucko14
- yufts11plural
- yuked13
- yukes12plural
- yukky19
- yules8plural
- yumps12plural
- yupon10
- yurta8
- yuzus17plural
Questions people ask
How many 5 letter words starting with Y are there?
176 valid words; 6 of them are common everyday words.
What is a five-letter word that starts with a Y?
The most common is young. Other everyday examples are youth, yield and yacht.
What is the best Wordle guess that starts with Y?
youth, leaving about 1.0 possible answers on average.
Which 5 letter word starting with Y scores the most in Scrabble?
Among common words, yummy scores 15 points. Among all valid words, yukky scores 19.
What 5 letter words start with Y and end with Y?
Y is the most common last letter for these words (4 of the everyday words). Examples: yummy, yucky, yappy and yuppy.
Do more 5 letter words start with Y or end with Y?
176 valid 5 letter words start with Y, compared with 1,248 that end with it. See 5 letter words ending in Y.
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