Highest-Scoring Five-Letter Words

Your board has two five-letter slots, more than any other length, so five-letter words carry a lot of your score. There are 7,940 of them in the WyldTyle dictionary, averaging 10.2 points. The sixty below are the top of the pile, all scoring 16 or more.

The top sixty

The small number after each word is its WyldTyle score with no wild tiles. Letter values are on the scoring guide.

• BUBBY19
• CIVVY19
• KICKY19
• KYACK19
• PUKKA19
• PUPPY19
• YUCKY19
• BOBBY18
• BULKY18
• BUMPY18
• CUBBY18
• CUPPY18
• DIVVY18
• GUPPY18
• KAPOK18
• KAYAK18
• KOOKY18
• MUCKY18
• PAPPY18
• PAWKY18
• PICKY18
• POCKY18
• POPPY18
• PYGMY18
• VUGGY18
• BABKA17
• BALKY17
• BUCKO17
• BUFFY17
• BUGGY17
• BYWAY17
• CABBY17
• COBBY17
• COCKY17
• DUCKY17
• DUMKY17
• FLUKY17
• FLYBY17
• GABBY17
• GAPPY17
• GAWKY17
• KABAB17
• KABOB17
• KAMIK17
• KAPPA17
• KIBBI17
• KINKY17
• KOPEK17
• KOPPA17
• KULAK17
• KYAKS17
• LUCKY17
• MYOPY17
• NAVVY17
• PECKY17
• PEPPY17
• PLUCK17
• PUCKA17
• PUFFY17
• PUGGY17

Doubled letters rule the top

Seven words tie for first place at 19 points, and almost all of them repeat an expensive letter: BUBBY, KICKY, PUPPY, YUCKY, PUKKA, and KYACK. CIVVY doubles the V. Repetition is the trick, because a doubled K is 10 points on its own, and a doubled B or P is 8. The 18-point tier is the same story with BOBBY, CUBBY, DIVVY, and GUPPY.

This tells you what the ceiling looks like, but it also tells you why you will rarely reach it. Each of those rare consonants sits on a single die face. Rolling the same one twice in a game is a coin flip at best; rolling it twice and being able to put both copies into the same five-letter word is a genuinely rare event.

Playing two five-letter slots

Having two slots of the same length is an opportunity, because a letter that does not fit one may fit the other. It is also a trap, because players tend to fill both with the same pattern and then find they need the same vowel twice. Some habits that help:

• Give them different shapes. Open one as consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant (like RAVEN or LEMON) and the other as consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant (like BLAST or TRUNK). Now a spare vowel and a spare consonant each have a home.
• Use one as the plural slot. Five-letter words average about 1.8 vowels, and a four-letter word plus S is a five-letter word. If you have an S, planting it in position five turns the slot into a four-letter problem, which is far easier. BACKS, BUMPS, and KICKS are all here as a result.
• Put the expensive letter in the middle. A K or V in position three (BAKER, COVEN, LIVER, TAKEN) leaves both ends open to common letters, which is what the dice mostly give you.

Words worth aiming for

The high-value words that need only one rare letter are the realistic ones. BULKY, BUMPY, and KAPOK need a K or a B plus common letters. A five-letter word in the 12 to 14 range is an excellent result, and two of them on the same board is a strong game. The scoring guide shows where these fit against a whole-board total.