Word Lists · U _ _ _ R
5 Letter Words Starting With U and Ending in R
Every five-letter word that fits U _ _ _ R — answer-eligible words are flagged in green, and you can tap any word to play it.
How Many 5-Letter Words Start With U and End in R?
U…R is one of the narrower shapes in the dictionary: 11 five-letter words open with U and close with R, and 6 of them can be the daily answer — UDDER, ULCER, UNDER among them. With both ends green you are usually three letters from done.
The second letter stays open here — L is the most common at only 18% (ULCER). Expect to spend a guess narrowing it rather than assuming.
100% 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 6 words that could truly win the board.
Best Wordle Guesses That Fit U _ _ _ R
Once U and R 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 ULCER — eliminates about 95.1% of remaining answers on average.
- 02 USHER — eliminates about 94.1% of remaining answers on average.
- 03 UNDER — eliminates about 93.8% of remaining answers on average.
The Full List, Grouped by Second Letter
Reading by square two: UL·2 UN·2 UP·2 UD·1 UM·1 +2 others. Tap the group that matches your board rather than scrolling the whole 11-word column.
U···R Words That Have Been Wordle Answers
This shape is rare in the daily puzzle. In 1916 Wordles, only 6 words with U and ending in R have been the answer: UDDER (#1320, 2025-01-29), UPPER (#1314, 2025-01-23), UTTER (#704, 2023-05-24), UNDER (#660, 2023-04-10), ULCER (#237, 2022-02-11), USHER (#169, 2021-12-05). Every answer-eligible word here has already had its turn.
| Puzzle | Date | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| #1320 | 2025-01-29 | UDDER |
| #1314 | 2025-01-23 | UPPER |
| #704 | 2023-05-24 | UTTER |
| #660 | 2023-04-10 | UNDER |
| #237 | 2022-02-11 | ULCER |
| #169 | 2021-12-05 | USHER |
The other 5 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.
U···R Words by Vowel Count & Second Letter
Vowel structure is the fastest way to narrow the middle three squares. Here is how the 11 U···R words split by how many vowels they contain in total:
| Vowels | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 or fewer | 0 | 0% |
| Exactly 2 | 11 | 100% |
| 3 or more | 0 | 0% |
And the most common second letters among U···R words — handy when a yellow tile hints at the square right after U:
| Pattern | Words |
|---|---|
| UL···R | 2 |
| UN···R | 2 |
| UP···R | 2 |
| UD···R | 1 |
| UM···R | 1 |
| UR···R | 1 |
How to Use These Words to Win Wordle
- Pin the second letter first. The square after U splits the list fastest — UL alone accounts for 2 of the 11 candidates, so fixing that tile drops most of the rest.
- Favor distinct letters early. 7 of the 11 words here use five different letters and 4 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 U and end in R?
There are 11 valid five-letter words that start with U and end in R in our Wordle dictionary, and 6 of them can appear as a daily answer. Turn on the "Answers only" filter above to narrow the U···R list to answer-eligible words.
What are the best U···R words for Wordle?
ULCER, USHER, UNDER are the strongest. ULCER eliminates about 95.1% of the answer pool on average, so if a clue has already fixed U and R, guessing ULCER both tests the pattern and rules out the most remaining words. See more best Wordle starting words.
Which U to R words have been Wordle answers?
6 of them, across 1916 puzzles. The most recent was UDDER (#1320) on 2025-01-29, and the first was USHER on 2021-12-05. Every answer-eligible U···R word has already been used. Browse the full past Wordle answers archive.
Do these U···R words work in hard mode?
Yes. Once U and R are green you must keep them, so this list is exactly your hard-mode candidate set. 7 of the 11 words use five distinct letters and 4 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 U···R words?
L — UL accounts for 2 of the 11 words (18%), ahead of UN with 2. With both ends already green, square two is usually the tile worth testing first.
How many vowels do U···R words usually have?
100% of these 11 words carry two or more vowels — 11 have exactly two and 0 have three or more, against 0 with one or fewer. With U and R 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.