Word Lists · L _ _ _ L

5 Letter Words Starting With L and Ending in L

Every five-letter word that fits L _ _ _ L — answer-eligible words are flagged in green, and you can tap any word to play it.

14 words 7 answer words 93% have 2+ vowels
Letter after L
Vowels
14 words Answer word Valid guess
LA
LE
LI
LO
LY

How Many 5-Letter Words Start With L and End in L?

14 words start with L and end with L, 7 of them answer-eligible. LAPEL is the most efficient probe from here, clearing about 92.5%.

Once both ends are green, the second letter is where the puzzle actually lives — and here it is O far more often than anything else, 36% of the time, as in LOCAL, LOYAL.

93% of these words carry two or more vowels, so the middle is vowel-rich — test consonants with your next probe.

Green-dotted words are answer-eligible — the everyday vocabulary the daily puzzle actually draws from — while hollow-dotted words are valid guesses you can play but that will never be the solution. Flip on Answers only to focus on the 7 words that could truly win the board.

Best Wordle Guesses That Fit L _ _ _ L

Once L and L are green, the strongest follow-up is a word that both fits the pattern and rules out as many remaining answers as possible. These three score highest, measured across all 2296 possible answers:

  1. 01
    LAPEL — eliminates about 92.5% of remaining answers on average.
  2. 02
    LABEL — eliminates about 91.8% of remaining answers on average.
  3. 03
    LEGAL — eliminates about 91.2% of remaining answers on average.

The Full List, Grouped by Second Letter

Reading by square two: LO·5 LA·4 LE·3 LI·1 LY·1. Tap the group that matches your board rather than scrolling the whole 14-word column.

L···L Words That Have Been Wordle Answers

This shape is rare in the daily puzzle. In 1916 Wordles, only 7 words with L and ending in L have been the answer: LEGAL (#1854, 2026-07-17), LEVEL (#1518, 2025-08-15), LOCAL (#998, 2024-03-13), LOYAL (#829, 2023-09-26), LIBEL (#497, 2022-10-29), LABEL (#419, 2022-08-12), LAPEL (#83, 2021-09-10). Every answer-eligible word here has already had its turn.

Most recent L···L answers — 7 total across 1916 puzzles
PuzzleDateAnswer
#1854 2026-07-17 LEGAL
#1518 2025-08-15 LEVEL
#998 2024-03-13 LOCAL
#829 2023-09-26 LOYAL
#497 2022-10-29 LIBEL
#419 2022-08-12 LABEL
#83 2021-09-10 LAPEL

The other 7 words are valid guesses the game accepts but will never choose as a solution. They are still useful as probes — words you play to expose new letters — but when you are guessing to win, a green-dotted answer word is the smarter pick.

L···L Words by Vowel Count & Second Letter

Vowel structure is the fastest way to narrow the middle three squares. Here is how the 14 L···L words split by how many vowels they contain in total:

VowelsWordsShare
1 or fewer17%
Exactly 21393%
3 or more00%

And the most common second letters among L···L words — handy when a yellow tile hints at the square right after L:

PatternWords
LO···L5
LA···L4
LE···L3
LI···L1
LY···L1

How to Use These Words to Win Wordle

  • Pin the second letter first. The square after L splits the list fastest — LO alone accounts for 5 of the 14 candidates, so fixing that tile drops most of the rest.
  • Favor distinct letters early. 0 of the 14 words here use five different letters and 14 repeat one.

Full strategy lives in the how-to-play guide, and you can practice any time on the unlimited Wordle board.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many 5-letter words start with L and end in L?

There are 14 valid five-letter words that start with L and end in L in our Wordle dictionary, and 7 of them can appear as a daily answer. Turn on the "Answers only" filter above to narrow the L···L list to answer-eligible words.

What are the best L···L words for Wordle?

LAPEL, LABEL, LEGAL are the strongest. LAPEL eliminates about 92.5% of the answer pool on average, so if a clue has already fixed L and L, guessing LAPEL both tests the pattern and rules out the most remaining words. See more best Wordle starting words.

Which L to L words have been Wordle answers?

7 of them, across 1916 puzzles. The most recent was LEGAL (#1854) on 2026-07-17, and the first was LAPEL on 2021-09-10. Every answer-eligible L···L word has already been used. Browse the full past Wordle answers archive.

Do these L···L words work in hard mode?

Yes. Once L and L are green you must keep them, so this list is exactly your hard-mode candidate set. 0 of the 14 words use five distinct letters and 14 repeat one — worth knowing, because hard mode will not let you drop a confirmed letter to probe elsewhere. See the how-to-play guide.

What is the most common second letter in L···L words?

O — LO accounts for 5 of the 14 words (36%), ahead of LA with 4. With both ends already green, square two is usually the tile worth testing first.

How many vowels do L···L words usually have?

93% of these 14 words carry two or more vowels — 13 have exactly two and 0 have three or more, against 1 with one or fewer. With L and L already fixed, that tells you how much vowel room the three middle squares still need. For a full clue-by-clue solve, send your board to the Wordle Solver.