5 letter words with second letter S
Every five-letter word in the list whose second letter is S — 65 of them, printed in full below. The pattern _S___ is already set; add the letters you have confirmed or ruled out to cut it down.
Five-letter words with S in second place, by the numbers
There are 65 of them here, which makes S the sixteenth busiest second 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 letter that most often sits in front of it is A, which opens 24 of them. Once S is locked, the third square is most often S (9 of them). Eleven of them end in S.
On standard Scrabble tiles the most expensive are PSYCH (15), USQUE (14), PSHAW (13). 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 S does in the second slot
S second is AS-, ES-, IS-, OS-, US- and a few vowel-less cases. It is not a large page, because S's real job at this length is opening the word or ending it, not sitting just behind the first letter.
38 of them use five different letters (ASCOT, ASDIC, ASHED and ASHEN). Nine of them contain a doubled letter (ASSAI, ASSAY, ASSES and ASSET). The no-repeat words are the ones worth guessing early, because each one tests five letters instead of four.
15 of them carry three or more vowels (ASANA, ASIDE, ASKOI and ASSAI). Those are the ones to reach for when the letters you have left are mostly vowels. One of them manages without A, E, I, O or U (PSYCH).
Using a second-letter S list in a puzzle
A green tile in the second square is a different clue from a green tile in the first. These 65 candidates already have S locked; put the other confirmed letters into the remaining underscores and put everything you have ruled out into the excluded box.
The first letter usually cuts this list harder than another middle letter, because second-letter S is shared by many opening consonants. If you have a choice about which square to test next, test the opener.
Alphabetically the list here runs from ASANA to USURY. Every word on it comes from the same public-domain list the search box queries. The opening-S list is a different page: those words start with S, and only 1,053 of them do.
Highest scoring five-letter words with S second
Standard Scrabble tile values for this slot, not for words that open with S. Rare letters still dominate the top of the table.
| Word | Points |
|---|---|
PSYCH | 15 |
USQUE | 14 |
PSHAW | 13 |
ASKEW | 12 |
ASKED | 10 |
TSKED | 10 |
ASHED | 9 |
ASKER | 9 |
ASKOI | 9 |
ASKOS | 9 |
What comes before second-letter S
The opening letter, counted across all 65 of them. This is usually the square that cuts the list fastest once S is locked.
| Starts with | Words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| A | 24 | ASANA, ASCOT, ASCUS |
| U | 9 | USAGE, USERS, USHER |
| E | 8 | ESCAR, ESCOT, ESKAR |
| I | 7 | ISBAS, ISLED, ISLES |
| P | 7 | PSALM, PSEUD, PSHAW |
| O | 5 | OSIER, OSMIC, OSMOL |
| T | 5 | TSADE, TSADI, TSARS |
How words with S second end
The last letter on this list, not on the opening-S list. S is still common; the rarer endings are the ones that finish a guess.
| Ends in | Words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| S | 11 | ASCUS, ASHES, ASKOS |
| R | 10 | ASKER, ASPER, ASTER |
| E | 7 | ASIDE, ISSUE, ISTLE |
| A | 6 | ASANA, ASYLA, OSSIA |
| D | 5 | ASHED, ASKED, ISLED |
| I | 5 | ASKOI, ASSAI, ISSEI |
| T | 4 | ASCOT, ASSET, ESCOT |
| C | 3 | ASDIC, ASPIC, OSMIC |
Common questions
How many 5 letter words have S as the second letter?
65 in the list used here, which is every five-letter word in the public-domain ENABLE dictionary with S second, apart from a short blocklist of slurs. Sites using a different dictionary will quote a different number.
Which 5 letter word with second letter S scores highest?
PSYCH, at 15 points on standard Scrabble tiles, ahead of USQUE at 14. Words With Friends values several letters differently, so the order there is not the same.
What usually comes before S in a five-letter word?
A does, in 24 of the 65. That is a fact about this list, not a rule of English, but it is the square worth testing next if you have a free guess.
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
Five-letter words by second letter
The same length, a different known square. A is the large page; J is the short one.
- A 1,478
- B 53
- C 122
- D 58
- E 1,063
- F 14
- G 49
- H 377
- I 963
- J 7
- K 55
- L 508
- M 116
- N 239
- O 1,333
- P 150
- Q 12
- R 645
- S 65
- T 166
- U 789
- V 39
- W 97
- X 44
- Y 164
- Z 15