Word Lists · O + S
5 Letter Words With O and S
Every five-letter word that contains both O and S, in any position — answer-eligible words flagged in green, tap any word to play.
How Many 5-Letter Words Have O and S?
O and S together still leave 1448 words standing — a wider field than roughly 98% of letter pairings, so two yellow tiles cut less here than they feel like they should. The 154 answer-eligible entries are where the puzzle can actually land, and AROSE is the strongest follow-up, clearing about 97.1% of what remains.
If you take one thing from this page: S belongs in slot 5. That holds for 942 of the 1448 words, 65% of everything here, BONUS, CHAOS, CROSS, DROSS included.
O and S sit side by side in 456 words here — AROSE, ARSON, BISON, BOOST among them. If one of your yellow tiles is already placed, testing the square right next to it covers a real slice of the list in one guess.
73% of these words carry two or more vowels, so vowel coverage is largely settled — spend the remaining guesses on consonants.
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 154 words that can truly win the board.
Best Wordle Words With O and S
When O and S are both in play, the strongest guess keeps them and rules out as many remaining answers as possible. These three score highest across all 2296 possible answers:
- 01 AROSE — eliminates about 97.1% of remaining answers on average.
- 02 STORE — eliminates about 96.5% of remaining answers on average.
- 03 LOSER — eliminates about 96.4% of remaining answers on average.
The Full List, Grouped by First Letter
The list spreads evenly across 25 opening letters, the biggest group (S) holding only 27%. No shortcut here — filter by what your board rules out instead.
O/S Words That Have Been Wordle Answers
O/S words are regulars in the daily answer. 125 have already been used — most recently SHONE (#1919) on 2026-09-20, 0 days back — starting with STOOL in 2021. 33 answer words on this list have never come up.
| Puzzle | Date | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| #1919 | 2026-09-20 | SHONE |
| #1917 | 2026-09-18 | SNOWY |
| #1912 | 2026-09-13 | FOCUS |
| #1904 | 2026-09-05 | SOUPY |
| #1902 | 2026-09-03 | JOIST |
| #1883 | 2026-08-15 | LOOSE |
| #1873 | 2026-08-05 | POSIT |
| #1865 | 2026-07-28 | SONAR |
| #1864 | 2026-07-27 | POSER |
| #1850 | 2026-07-13 | STOUT |
| #1834 | 2026-06-27 | SCOOP |
| #1772 | 2026-04-26 | GLOSS |
Never used as an answer
33 answer-eligible O/S words have never been the solution: AROSE, ARSON, BISON, BOSOM, COPSE, DROSS, GUSTO, NOOSE, NOSEY, OBESE, PESTO, POESY, ROAST, SALON, SALVO, SAVOY, SCION, SHOCK , among others. 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 1294 words on this list are valid guesses the game accepts but never chooses as a solution. They still make useful probes for placing O and S, but when you guess to win, a green-dotted answer word is the smarter pick.
Where O and S Land in 5-Letter Words
The whole puzzle now is placement, so here is exactly where each letter tends to sit across the 1448 words. Try the busiest square first.
| Position | Words with O here | Words with S here |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 91 | 394 |
| 2nd | 802 | 22 |
| 3rd | 419 | 115 |
| 4th | 275 | 128 |
| 5th | 67 | 942 |
Play a candidate that seats each letter in its busiest square and one of two good things happens: a tile turns green and you have locked a position, or it turns yellow again and you have eliminated the single most likely slot in one move.
How to Use These Words to Win Wordle
- Lead with the busiest square. O in slot 2 covers 802 of these 1448 words and S in slot 5 covers 942 — try that shape before rarer placements.
- Favor distinct letters early. 991 of the 1448 words here use five different letters and 457 repeat one.
- Then check for repeats. Repeated letters are live here: 349 entries carry O or S more than once, including BOOST, BOSOM, BOSSY, CROSS. Worth checking before you rule a candidate out.
- Lean toward an unused word. Repeats stayed at zero until February 2026 and number just 24 in 1916 puzzles, so the 33 never-used O/S 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 have O and S?
There are 1448 valid five-letter words that contain both O and S in any position, and 154 of them can be a Wordle answer. Turn on "Answers only" above to narrow the list to answer-eligible words.
What is the best word to guess with O and S confirmed?
AROSE — it keeps both letters and still eliminates about 97.1% of the remaining answer pool. AROSE, STORE, LOSER are the top three by that measure. See more best Wordle starting words.
Where do O and S usually sit in these words?
O most often lands in the 2nd position (802 of 1448 words) and S in the 5th (942). That is a strong enough lean to guess on directly.
Which O/S words have been Wordle answers?
125 of them, out of 1916 puzzles so far. The most recent was SHONE (#1919) on 2026-09-20, and the first was STOOL on 2021-07-13. 33 answer-eligible words have never been used, including AROSE, ARSON, BISON, BOSOM. Browse the full past Wordle answers archive.
Do these words work in hard mode?
Yes. Once O and S show as present you must reuse them, so this is exactly your hard-mode candidate set. 991 of the 1448 words use five distinct letters and 457 repeat one, which matters because hard mode will not let you drop a confirmed letter to test elsewhere — see the how-to-play guide.
Are there 5-letter words with O and S next to each other?
456 of the 1448 words place O and S in neighbouring squares: ACROS, ADIOS, AEROS, AFROS, AGIOS, AGROS, among others. The remaining 992 keep at least one square between them.
How many O/S words have no repeated letters?
991 of the 1448. Those are the ones that reveal the most board per guess, so they are the better probes early on. The other 457 double up on some letter, and 73% of the full list carries two or more vowels. For a full clue-by-clue solve, send your board to the Wordle Solver.