Word Lists · W _ _ _ R
5 Letter Words Starting With W and Ending in R
Every five-letter word that fits W _ _ _ R — answer-eligible words are flagged in green, and you can tap any word to play it.
How Many 5-Letter Words Start With W and End in R?
The W…R shape covers 22 words, with 7 in the answer pool. Follow up with WATER — about 95.5% of the remaining answers gone.
Square two does most of the remaining work, and it leans heavily toward A: 9 of the 22 words, 41% of the list (WAFER, WAGER, WATER, WAVER). Guessing WA as your opening two letters is the percentage play.
91% 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 W _ _ _ R
Once W 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 WATER — eliminates about 95.5% of remaining answers on average.
- 02 WISER — eliminates about 94.5% of remaining answers on average.
- 03 WAGER — eliminates about 93.9% of remaining answers on average.
The Full List, Grouped by Second Letter
Second-letter groups run A (9), I (5), H (3), O (2). On a W···R board that grouping mirrors exactly the order the clues arrive in.
W···R Words That Have Been Wordle Answers
6 appearances in 1916 puzzles makes this a genuinely uncommon shape — WAGER (#1903, 2026-09-04), WAVER (#1790, 2026-05-14), WISER (#1740, 2026-03-25), WATER (#1495, 2025-07-23), WAFER (#1300, 2025-01-09), WOOER (#78, 2021-09-05). That leaves 1 candidate the puzzle has never used — WIDER.
| Puzzle | Date | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| #1903 | 2026-09-04 | WAGER |
| #1790 | 2026-05-14 | WAVER |
| #1740 | 2026-03-25 | WISER |
| #1495 | 2025-07-23 | WATER |
| #1300 | 2025-01-09 | WAFER |
| #78 | 2021-09-05 | WOOER |
Never used as an answer
1 answer-eligible W···R word has never been the solution: WIDER . 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 15 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.
W···R Words by Vowel Count & Second Letter
Vowel structure is the fastest way to narrow the middle three squares. Here is how the 22 W···R words split by how many vowels they contain in total:
| Vowels | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 or fewer | 2 | 9% |
| Exactly 2 | 19 | 86% |
| 3 or more | 1 | 5% |
And the most common second letters among W···R words — handy when a yellow tile hints at the square right after W:
| Pattern | Words |
|---|---|
| WA···R | 9 |
| WI···R | 5 |
| WH···R | 3 |
| WO···R | 2 |
| WR···R | 2 |
| WE···R | 1 |
How to Use These Words to Win Wordle
- Pin the second letter first. The square after W splits the list fastest — WA alone accounts for 9 of the 22 candidates, so fixing that tile drops most of the rest.
- Favor distinct letters early. 16 of the 22 words here use five different letters and 6 repeat one.
- Lean toward an unused word. Repeats stayed at zero until February 2026 and number just 24 in 1916 puzzles, so the 1 never-used W···R word above remains 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 W and end in R?
There are 22 valid five-letter words that start with W and end in R in our Wordle dictionary, and 7 of them can appear as a daily answer. Turn on the "Answers only" filter above to narrow the W···R list to answer-eligible words.
What are the best W···R words for Wordle?
WATER, WISER, WAGER are the strongest. WATER eliminates about 95.5% of the answer pool on average, so if a clue has already fixed W and R, guessing WATER both tests the pattern and rules out the most remaining words. See more best Wordle starting words.
Which W to R words have been Wordle answers?
6 of them, across 1916 puzzles. The most recent was WAGER (#1903) on 2026-09-04, and the first was WOOER on 2021-09-05. 1 answer-eligible W···R word has never come up, including WIDER. Browse the full past Wordle answers archive.
Do these W···R words work in hard mode?
Yes. Once W and R are green you must keep them, so this list is exactly your hard-mode candidate set. 16 of the 22 words use five distinct letters and 6 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 W···R words?
A — WA accounts for 9 of the 22 words (41%), ahead of WI with 5. With both ends already green, square two is usually the tile worth testing first.
How many vowels do W···R words usually have?
91% of these 22 words carry two or more vowels — 19 have exactly two and 1 have three or more, against 2 with one or fewer. With W 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.