5 FiveLetterWords

Five-letter words starting with S and ending in F (S___F)

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

Possible answers

SCARF SCOFF SERIF SHELF SKIFF SNIFF SNUFF SPOOF STAFF STIFF STUFF

Shortlist note

How to play this shortlist

This pattern has 26 words in the Wordle guess list; 11 are possible answers. The calculator compared 14,786 Wordle guesses against those 11 answers. The possible-answer label is a guide, not a promise about what Wordle's editors will choose.

Previously used by Wordle: SCARF (May 14, 2023); SCOFF (July 6, 2024); SERIF (March 23, 2026); SHELF (March 25, 2025); SKIFF (August 12, 2024); SPOOF (October 15, 2025); STAFF (July 23, 2021); STIFF (February 9, 2024); plus 1 more.

Top-ranked splitter ONTIC
Average remaining
1.18
Worst branch
2
Information
3.28 bits

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

Hard Mode Use STIFF instead.

ONTIC does not fit this page's clues. STIFF keeps every clue shown here and leaves an average remainder of 2.09 (3 in its worst branch). Check any additional yellow-position clues in the full Solver.

Tight family: ST_FF

STAFF, STIFF, STUFF differ only in the third position. Trying them one at a time can use several turns; ONTIC tests the family more efficiently.

Compare two plays

Choose any two plays. The figures use the same 11 possible answers.

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Pattern guide

What fits S___F?

All 26 matching words are shown above. 11 are possible answers.

More about these matches

Useful letters still to test

A 27% R 23% C 23% I 23% E 23% U 23%

Words with five different letters

42% of the matches have no repeated letters.

SCARF SERIF SHELF SAUNF SCHIF

Common letter pairs

FF 12% SC 6% IF 6% RF 5% SK 4%

Vowels

No vowels: 0% · one: 81% · two: 19% · three or more: 0%

Common questions
How many five-letter words match S___F?
26 five-letter words match S___F in this site's Wordle guess list. Of these, 11 are possible answers.
Which matching word has the highest feedback entropy?
Among all matching words, SERIF has the highest feedback entropy at 5.07 bits against the possible answers.
Keep going
S___S S___E S___Y Refine in Finder →
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