5 letter words with L

2,165 words, all 5 letters. Highest score LEZZY (23 points).

Narrow it down in the finder

Highest scoring

lezzy₂₃
jowly₂₂
kylix₂₀
xylyl₂₀
fjeld₁₉
flaxy₁₉
jelly₁₉
jewel₁₉
jolly₁₉
jowls₁₉
flyby₁₈
glazy₁₈

Words by first letter

A141
B157
C160
D64
E37
F140
G111
H69
I31
J23
K40
L401
M75
N30
O41
P131
Q6
R51
S230
T74
U26
V48
W51
X4
Y16
Z8

Starting with A 141

aalii
abele
abler
ables
aboil
acold
acyls
addle
adult
afoul
agile
aglee
aglet
agley
aglow
ahold
ahull
ailed
aioli
aisle
akela
alack
alamo
aland
alane
alang
alans
alant
alarm
alary
alate
albas
album
alcid
alder
aldol
alecs
alefs
aleph
alert

101 more starting with A — open them in the finder

Starting with B 157

baals
babel
babul
badly
bagel
bails
balas
balds
baldy
baled
baler
bales
balks
balky
balls
bally
balms
balmy
balsa
banal
basal
basil
baulk
bawls
bedel
belay
belch
belga
belie
belle
bells
belly
below
belts
beryl
betel
bevel
bezel
bezil
biali

117 more starting with B — open them in the finder

Starting with C 160

cabal
cable
calfs
calif
calix
calks
calla
calls
calms
calve
calyx
camel
canal
carle
carls
carol
cauld
caulk
cauls
cavil
cecal
ceils
celeb
cella
celli
cello
cells
celom
celts
ceorl
chalk
chela
chiel
child
chile
chili
chill
cholo
churl
chyle

120 more starting with C — open them in the finder

Starting with D 64

dahls
daily
dales
dally
deals
dealt
decal
dedal
deils
delay
deled
deles
delfs
delft
delis
dells
delly
delta
delve
devel
devil
dhals
dhole
dials
dills
dilly
dimly
diols
dirls
dobla
doily
dolce
dolci
doled
doles
dolls
dolly
dolma
dolor
dolts

24 more starting with D — open them in the finder

Starting with E 37

eagle
earls
early
easel
eclat
edile
elain
eland
elans
elate
elbow
elder
elect
elegy
elemi
elfin
elide
elint
elite
eloin
elope
elude
elute
elver
elves
enols
enrol
equal
ervil
ethyl
evils
exalt
excel
exile
expel
extol
exult

Starting with F 140

fable
fails
falls
false
farle
farls
fatal
fatly
fauld
fault
fecal
feels
felid
fella
fells
felly
felon
felts
feral
ferly
fetal
feyly
field
filar
filch
filed
filer
files
filet
fille
fillo
fills
filly
films
filmy
filos
filth
filum
final
fitly

100 more starting with F — open them in the finder

Starting with G 111

gable
gaily
galah
galas
galax
galea
gales
galls
gally
galop
gaols
gault
gavel
gayal
gayly
gelds
gelee
gelid
gelts
ghoul
ghyll
gilds
gills
gilly
gilts
gimel
girls
girly
glace
glade
glads
glady
glair
gland
glans
glare
glary
glass
glaze
glazy

71 more starting with G — open them in the finder

Starting with H 69

hadal
hails
haled
haler
hales
halid
hallo
halls
halma
halms
halos
halts
halva
halve
hamal
haole
haply
harls
haulm
hauls
hazel
heals
heels
heils
helio
helix
hello
hells
helms
helos
helot
helps
helve
hemal
herls
hexyl
hilar
hillo
hills
hilly

29 more starting with H — open them in the finder

Starting with I 31

icily
ideal
idled
idler
idles
idols
idyll
idyls
igloo
iglus
ileac
ileal
ileum
ileus
iliac
iliad
ilial
ilium
iller
impel
imply
indol
ingle
inkle
inlay
inlet
isled
isles
islet
istle
ixtle

Starting with J 23

jacal
jails
jalap
jalop
jarls
jebel
jells
jelly
jewel
jills
jilts
joles
jolly
jolts
jolty
joual
joule
jowls
jowly
jugal
julep
jural
jurel

Starting with K 40

kails
kalam
kales
kalif
kalpa
keels
kelep
kelim
kelly
kelps
kelpy
ketol
kevel
kevil
kibla
kilim
kills
kilns
kilos
kilts
kilty
klong
kloof
kluge
klutz
kneel
knell
knelt
knoll
knurl
koala
koels
kohls
kolas
kolos
kraal
krill
kugel
kulak
kylix

Starting with L 401

laari
label
labia
labor
labra
laced
lacer
laces
lacey
lacks
laded
laden
lader
lades
ladle
laevo
lagan
lager
lahar
laich
laics
laigh
laird
lairs
laith
laity
laked
laker
lakes
lakhs
lalls
lamas
lambs
lamby
lamed
lamer
lames
lamia
lamps
lanai

361 more starting with L — open them in the finder

Starting with M 75

macle
madly
maile
maill
mails
malar
males
malic
malls
malms
malmy
malts
malty
manly
maple
marls
marly
mauls
meals
mealy
medal
melds
melee
melic
mells
melon
melts
merle
merls
metal
mewls
miaul
milch
miler
miles
milia
milks
milky
mille
mills

35 more starting with M — open them in the finder

Starting with N 30

nails
naled
nasal
natal
naval
navel
nelly
nerol
newel
newly
nicol
nidal
nihil
nills
nival
noble
nobly
nodal
noels
noils
noily
nolos
nonyl
nopal
notal
novel
nulls
nurls
nyala
nylon

Starting with O 41

obeli
obole
oboli
obols
octal
octyl
oculi
oddly
odyle
odyls
offal
ogled
ogler
ogles
oiled
oiler
olden
older
oldie
oleic
olein
oleos
oleum
olios
olive
ollas
ology
opals
orals
oriel
orles
orlop
osmol
ousel
ouzel
ovals
ovoli
ovolo
ovule
owlet

1 more starting with O — open them in the finder

Starting with P 131

padle
pails
palea
paled
paler
pales
palet
palls
pally
palms
palmy
palpi
palps
palsy
panel
papal
parle
parol
patly
pawls
peals
pearl
pedal
peels
peles
pelfs
pelon
pelts
penal
pepla
peril
petal
phial
phlox
phyla
phyle
pibal
pical
picul
pilaf

91 more starting with P — open them in the finder

Starting with Q 6

quail
quale
qualm
quell
quill
quilt

Starting with R 51

rails
rales
rally
ralph
ratal
ratel
ravel
rawly
realm
reals
rebel
redly
reels
refel
refly
regal
relax
relay
relet
relic
relit
renal
reoil
repel
reply
revel
rials
riels
rifle
riled
riles
riley
rille
rills
rival
riyal
roble
roils
roily
roles

11 more starting with R — open them in the finder

Starting with S 230

sable
sadly
sails
salad
salal
salep
sales
salic
sally
salmi
salol
salon
salpa
salps
salsa
salts
salty
salve
salvo
sauls
sault
scald
scale
scall
scalp
scaly
schul
scold
scowl
sculk
scull
sculp
seals
seels
seely
selah
selfs
selle
sells
selva

190 more starting with S — open them in the finder

Starting with T 74

tabla
table
taels
tails
talar
talas
talcs
taler
tales
talks
talky
tally
talon
taluk
talus
tamal
teals
teels
telae
teles
telex
telia
telic
tells
telly
teloi
telos
tepal
tesla
thill
thiol
thirl
thole
thurl
tical
tidal
tilak
tilde
tiled
tiler

34 more starting with T — open them in the finder

Starting with U 26

uhlan
ulama
ulans
ulcer
ulema
ulnad
ulnae
ulnar
ulnas
ulpan
ultra
ulvas
umbel
uncle
unlay
unled
unlet
unlit
until
uplit
ureal
urial
usual
utile
uveal
uvula

Starting with V 48

vagal
vails
vakil
vales
valet
valid
valor
valse
value
valve
vasal
vault
veals
vealy
veils
velar
velds
veldt
velum
venal
vexil
vials
vigil
viler
villa
villi
vills
vinal
vinyl
viola
viols
viral
virls
vital
vocal
voila
voile
volar
voled
voles

8 more starting with V — open them in the finder

Starting with W 51

wails
waled
waler
wales
walks
walla
walls
wally
waltz
wanly
wauls
wawls
weald
weals
wedel
welch
welds
wells
welly
welsh
welts
wetly
whale
wheal
wheel
whelk
whelm
whelp
while
whirl
whole
whorl
wield
wilco
wilds
wiled
wiles
wills
willy
wilts

11 more starting with W — open them in the finder

Starting with X 4

xylan
xylem
xylol
xylyl

Starting with Y 16

yauld
yawls
yelks
yells
yelps
yield
yills
ylems
yodel
yodle
yokel
yolks
yolky
yowls
yulan
yules

Starting with Z 8

zeals
zilch
zills
zlote
zloty
zoeal
zonal
zoril

This page shows 861 of the 2,165 words; the finder lists all of them and can copy them as text.

What is in this list

This list holds 2,165 words, 1.3% of the 172,634 words this site keeps from the ENABLE word list. Every word here has 5 letters, and they average 5 letters by construction — so the interesting differences are in which letters they use. Of the 36 lists in this group it is the 5th largest: “5 letter words with E” leads with 3,876 and “5 letter words ending in UMPY” has the fewest, 5. 2 words that would also fit were left out by this site's blocklist of slurs and explicit words.

Points and vowels

Using this site's letter values, the average word here scores 9.6 points (median 9); words of the same lengths across the whole list average 9.6, so this list scores the same as the dictionary. The top scorers are LEZZY (23), JOWLY (22), KYLIX (20), XYLYL (20). Point for point, LEZZY earns the most per letter: 23 points over 5 letters, 4.6 each. L itself is worth 2 points here, so the score comes from the other letters.

Vowels (A, E, I, O, U) make up 34.4% of the letters, against 38% across the whole list. 165 words are more than half vowels. 12 words have none of them at all, leaning on Y instead — for example BYRLS, DRYLY, FLYBY and GHYLL. Compared with the whole dictionary, the letter most over-represented here is Y: 3.1% of the letters, against 1.6% overall.

Letter by letter

L opens 401 words (18.5%), closes 281 and sits inside the other 1,483. 199 words use it more than once, such as AHULL, ALDOL, ALGAL and ALKYL. Position by position, the most likely letters are L in slot 1 (18.5%), L in slot 2 (23.5%), L in slot 3 (26.9%), L in slot 4 (24.6%), S in slot 5 (28.7%). 1,499 words use 5 different letters with none repeated (69.2%); the rest repeat at least one, and the most common double is LL (167 words). The most common three-letter openings are CLA- (23, as in CLACH), CLO- (21, as in CLOAK), FLA- (21, as in FLABS). The most common endings are -LLS (54, as in BALLS), -LES (47, as in ABLES), -LLY (37, as in BALLY). 28.4% end in a single S — mostly plurals and verb forms of shorter words.

Word play in this list

The biggest anagram family here is LEAST, SETAL, SLATE, STALE, STEAL, STELA, TAELS and 3 more — 10 words from the same 5 letters. Altogether 394 sets of anagrams sit inside this list, covering 1,013 words. It contains 5 palindromes, read the same both ways: ALULA, DELED, LEVEL, SOLOS and SULUS. 48 words turn into another real word when spelled backwards — DECAL becomes LACED, DEDAL becomes LADED, DEVIL becomes LIVED, DIOLS becomes SLOID. ACYLS is the longest word here that uses only one kind of vowel, ahead of ALACK.

45.8% of these words take an S on the end and stay a word (AALII, ABELE and ADDLE among them); after S, the most useful end letter is D, which extends 112 words. At the front, S turns 115 words into new ones (ABLES → SABLES); F turns 63 words into new ones (ABLER → FABLER); C turns 57 words into new ones (ABLES → CABLES).

Using this list

If the answer to a five-letter puzzle is known to be in this list, ALOES is the guess that splits it most evenly: its colour patterns divide the sampled words into 86 groups, the largest of which has 96 words left (5.5 bits of information). To narrow it further, open it in the pattern finder: the rule “contains L, has 5 letters” is already filled in, and you can add a length, a fixed letter position or letters to leave out.

More lists like this

About these lists. Words come from ENABLE, a public-domain word list; a few slurs and explicit words are left out. Letter values are this site's own rule, based on how rare each letter is. Scrabble, Words With Friends and Wordle are trademarks of their owners (Hasbro and Mattel, Zynga, The New York Times); this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Sources and limits.