5 FiveLetterWords

Five-letter words matching S_E_L

Green letters (right spot)
Yellow letters (wrong spots)

Add every position where a present letter cannot go. Use Must contain twice for two copies, or the Solver for full guess rows.

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Showing 18 matching words
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Shortlist

What the remaining words have in common

18 matching words1 not previously used5 past answersBest matching test word: STEALTight family: S_ELL (4)

Position 2H 22%P 22%T 22%W 17%
Position 4L 39%A 22%E 22%I 11%

Possible answers

SHELL SMELL SPELL STEAL STEEL SWELL

used already been a Wordle answer · possible on the possible-answer list · guess accepted, but not a possible answer

Refine this pattern

The top-ranked splitter is shown in the shortlist note below. Add a gray or yellow clue here to recalculate after the position changes.

Shortlist note

How to play this shortlist

This pattern has 18 words in the Wordle guess list; 6 are possible answers. The calculator compared 14,786 Wordle guesses against those 6 answers. The possible-answer label is a guide, not a promise about what Wordle's editors will choose.

Previously used by Wordle: SHELL (October 2, 2024); SMELL (March 12, 2026); SPELL (November 8, 2022); STEEL (April 13, 2024); SWELL (November 9, 2024).

Top-ranked splitter PHWAT
Average remaining
1.0
Worst branch
1
Information
2.58 bits

It is a deliberate probe rather than a possible answer here: the point is to separate the remaining answers cleanly.

Hard Mode Use SHELL instead.

PHWAT does not fit this page's clues. SHELL keeps every clue shown here and leaves an average remainder of 2.33 (3 in its worst branch). Check any additional yellow-position clues in the full Solver.

Trap warning: S_ELL

SHELL, SMELL, SPELL, SWELL differ only in the second position. Trying them one at a time can use several turns; PHWAT tests the family more efficiently.

Compare two plays

Choose any two plays. The figures use the same 6 possible answers.

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Pattern guide

What fits S_E_L?

All 18 matching words are shown above. 6 are possible answers.

More about these matches

Useful letters still to test

H 22% P 22% T 22% A 22% W 17% I 11%

Words with five different letters

39% of the matches have no repeated letters.

STEAL SHEAL SHEOL SPEAL SPEIL

Common letter pairs

EL 11/18 words (61%) LL 7/18 words (39%) SH 4/18 words (22%) HE 4/18 words (22%) SP 4/18 words (22%)

Vowels

No vowels: 0% · one: 39% · two: 61% · three or more: 0%

Common questions
How many five-letter words match S_E_L?
18 five-letter words match S_E_L in this site's Wordle guess list. Of these, 6 are possible answers.
Which matching word has the highest feedback entropy?
Among all matching words, STEAL has the highest feedback entropy at 5.48 bits against the possible answers.