5 letter words starting with Z
Every five-letter word in the list that begins with Z — 51 of them, printed in full below. Filter by the letters you have confirmed or ruled out to cut it down.
Five-letter words beginning with Z, by the numbers
There are 51 of them here, which makes Z the twenty-fifth busiest opening letter at this length. The full list is on this page rather than behind a click, in alphabetical order, with the highest-scoring words called out separately below.
The most common second letter is O, which follows Z in 17 of them. 21 of them end in S, mostly plurals and third-person verbs.
On standard Scrabble tiles the most expensive are ZANZA (23), ZAZEN (23), ZIZIT (23). Tile values are a fact about the game rather than about English: a word scores well because its letters are rare, which is exactly why the top of that list is nobody's idea of a good opening guess.
What Z does at the front of a word
Z opens a short list and pays 10 points a tile, the joint highest value in the game. A Z word that fits the board is usually the play worth making, even when a longer one is available.
35 of them use five different letters (ZAIRE, ZARFS, ZAXES and ZAYIN). Eight of them contain a doubled letter (ZAPPY, ZILLS, ZIPPY and ZOOID). The no-repeat words are the ones worth guessing early, because each one tests five letters instead of four.
Seven of them carry three or more vowels (ZAIRE, ZAMIA, ZOEAE and ZOEAL). Those are the ones to reach for when the letters you have left are mostly vowels. Every one of them contains at least one of A, E, I, O or U, so there is no vowel-free Z word at this length to fall back on.
Working through a Z word in a puzzle
With 51 candidates, the useful move is elimination rather than inspiration. Put the letters you have confirmed into the pattern box in their positions — Z____ is already assumed on this page — and put everything you have ruled out into the excluded box. What survives is usually a list you can read in one look.
A first letter is worth less than it feels. Knowing a word starts with Z removes most of the dictionary but leaves these 51; knowing the third letter typically cuts harder, because middle positions vary more than opening ones. If you have a choice about which position to test next, test the middle.
Alphabetically the list here runs from ZAIRE to ZYMES. Every word on it comes from the same public-domain list the search box queries, so nothing printed here is a word the tool will then refuse to find. If one you expect is missing it is missing from the list itself, which is a curated subset of ENABLE and says so plainly rather than quietly.
Highest scoring Z words at five letters
Standard Scrabble tile values. A word scores well when its letters are rare, which is why the top of this table and the top of a puzzle-strategy list have almost nothing in common.
| Word | Points |
|---|---|
ZANZA | 23 |
ZAZEN | 23 |
ZIZIT | 23 |
ZAPPY | 21 |
ZAXES | 21 |
ZINKY | 21 |
ZIPPY | 21 |
ZILCH | 19 |
ZINCY | 19 |
ZYMES | 19 |
How five-letter Z words end
The last letter, counted across all 51 of them. This is the fastest filter to apply when a crossing letter has given you the ending.
| Ends in | Words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| S | 21 | ZARFS, ZAXES, ZEALS |
| Y | 8 | ZAPPY, ZESTY, ZINCY |
| E | 4 | ZAIRE, ZLOTE, ZOEAE |
| A | 3 | ZAMIA, ZANZA, ZEBRA |
| L | 3 | ZOEAL, ZONAL, ZORIL |
| D | 2 | ZONED, ZOOID |
| N | 2 | ZAYIN, ZAZEN |
| T | 2 | ZIBET, ZIZIT |
Common questions
How many 5 letter words start with Z?
51 in the list used here, which is every five-letter Z word in the public-domain ENABLE dictionary apart from a short blocklist of slurs. Sites using a different dictionary will quote a different number.
Which 5 letter word starting with Z scores highest?
ZANZA, at 23 points on standard Scrabble tiles, ahead of ZAZEN at 23. Words With Friends values several letters differently, so the order there is not the same.
Are there 5 letter words starting with Z with no repeated letters?
35 of the 51, including ZAIRE, ZARFS, ZAXES, ZAYIN and ZEALS. These are the ones that make a good opening guess, because every letter tested is a different letter.
Every word, grouped by how long it is
The complete list at each length. Three letters is a page you memorise; nine is a page you search.
Five-letter words by opening letter
The complete list for each letter, with how many there are. S is a page you scroll; X is a page you read.
- A 497
- B 589
- C 662
- D 455
- E 192
- F 429
- G 414
- H 334
- I 118
- J 133
- K 205
- L 401
- M 443
- N 200
- O 181
- P 565
- Q 53
- R 419
- S 1,053
- T 547
- U 117
- V 161
- W 295
- X 13
- Y 94
- Z 51