Word Lists · S _ _ _ W
5 Letter Words Starting With S and Ending in W
Every five-letter word that fits S _ _ _ W — answer-eligible words are flagged in green, and you can tap any word to play it.
How Many 5-Letter Words Start With S and End in W?
S…W is one of the narrower shapes in the dictionary: 12 five-letter words open with S and close with W, and 4 of them can be the daily answer — SCREW, SHREW, SINEW among them. With both ends green you are usually three letters from done.
The second letter stays open here — C is the most common at only 25% (SCREW). Expect to spend a guess narrowing it rather than assuming.
Only 17% hold two or more vowels, which makes this a consonant-dense shape; a single vowel in the middle is the common case.
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 4 words that could truly win the board.
Best Wordle Guesses That Fit S _ _ _ W
Once S and W 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:
- 01 STRAW — eliminates about 93.7% of remaining answers on average.
- 02 SCREW — eliminates about 93.6% of remaining answers on average.
- 03 SINEW — eliminates about 93.5% of remaining answers on average.
The Full List, Grouped by Second Letter
Reading by square two: SC·3 ST·3 SH·2 SE·1 SI·1 +1 others. Tap the group that matches your board rather than scrolling the whole 12-word column.
S···W Words That Have Been Wordle Answers
This shape is rare in the daily puzzle. In 1916 Wordles, only 1 word with S and ending in W has been the answer: STRAW (#741, 2023-06-30). That leaves 3 candidates the puzzle has never used — SCREW, SHREW, SINEW.
| Puzzle | Date | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| #741 | 2023-06-30 | STRAW |
Never used as an answer
3 answer-eligible S···W words have never been the solution: SCREW, SHREW, SINEW . Wordle avoided repeats entirely for its first 1,688 puzzles and only began reusing old answers in February 2026 — 24 times so far. An unused word is still the likelier bet, just no longer a certainty; see how repeats work for the full picture.
The other 8 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.
S···W Words by Vowel Count & Second Letter
Vowel structure is the fastest way to narrow the middle three squares. Here is how the 12 S···W words split by how many vowels they contain in total:
| Vowels | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 or fewer | 10 | 83% |
| Exactly 2 | 2 | 17% |
| 3 or more | 0 | 0% |
And the most common second letters among S···W words — handy when a yellow tile hints at the square right after S:
| Pattern | Words |
|---|---|
| SC···W | 3 |
| ST···W | 3 |
| SH···W | 2 |
| SE···W | 1 |
| SI···W | 1 |
| SP···W | 1 |
How to Use These Words to Win Wordle
- Pin the second letter first. The square after S splits the list fastest — SC alone accounts for 3 of the 12 candidates, so fixing that tile drops most of the rest.
- Favor distinct letters early. 12 of the 12 words here use five different letters and 0 repeat one.
- Lean toward an unused word. Repeats stayed at zero until February 2026 and number just 24 in 1916 puzzles, so the 3 never-used S···W words above remain the stronger bet.
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 S and end in W?
There are 12 valid five-letter words that start with S and end in W in our Wordle dictionary, and 4 of them can appear as a daily answer. Turn on the "Answers only" filter above to narrow the S···W list to answer-eligible words.
What are the best S···W words for Wordle?
STRAW, SCREW, SINEW are the strongest. STRAW eliminates about 93.7% of the answer pool on average, so if a clue has already fixed S and W, guessing STRAW both tests the pattern and rules out the most remaining words. See more best Wordle starting words.
Which S to W words have been Wordle answers?
1 of them, across 1916 puzzles. The most recent was STRAW (#741) on 2023-06-30. 3 answer-eligible S···W words have never come up, including SCREW, SHREW, SINEW. Browse the full past Wordle answers archive.
Do these S···W words work in hard mode?
Yes. Once S and W are green you must keep them, so this list is exactly your hard-mode candidate set. 12 of the 12 words use five distinct letters and 0 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 S···W words?
C — SC accounts for 3 of the 12 words (25%), ahead of ST with 3. With both ends already green, square two is usually the tile worth testing first.
How many vowels do S···W words usually have?
17% of these 12 words carry two or more vowels — 2 have exactly two and 0 have three or more, against 10 with one or fewer. With S and W 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.