Word Lists · R + S
5 Letter Words With R and S
Every five-letter word that contains both R and S, in any position — answer-eligible words flagged in green, tap any word to play.
How Many 5-Letter Words Have R and S?
R and S together still leave 1285 words standing — a wider field than roughly 97% of letter pairings, so two yellow tiles cut less here than they feel like they should. The 164 answer-eligible entries are where the puzzle can actually land, and RAISE is the strongest follow-up, clearing about 97.4% of what remains.
If you take one thing from this page: S belongs in slot 5. That holds for 806 of the 1285 words, 63% of everything here, BRASS, CRASS, CRESS, CROSS included.
R and S sit side by side in 190 words here — ARSON, BURST, CURSE, FIRST 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.
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 164 words that can truly win the board.
Best Wordle Words With R and S
When R 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 RAISE — eliminates about 97.4% of remaining answers on average.
- 02 ARISE — eliminates about 97.2% of remaining answers on average.
- 03 AROSE — eliminates about 97.1% of remaining answers on average.
The Full List, Grouped by First Letter
Three opening letters carry half the list: S (344), R (234), B (88), out of 26 groups in total. Those chips are the fastest way in when square one is still unknown.
R/S Words That Have Been Wordle Answers
R/S words are regulars in the daily answer. 134 have already been used — most recently RINSE (#1913) on 2026-09-14, 6 days back — starting with SERVE in 2021. 35 answer words on this list have never come up.
| Puzzle | Date | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| #1913 | 2026-09-14 | RINSE |
| #1910 | 2026-09-11 | ASTER |
| #1908 | 2026-09-09 | BURST |
| #1886 | 2026-08-18 | STRIP |
| #1881 | 2026-08-13 | CRASH |
| #1868 | 2026-07-31 | PURSE |
| #1865 | 2026-07-28 | SONAR |
| #1864 | 2026-07-27 | POSER |
| #1780 | 2026-05-04 | RISER |
| #1768 | 2026-04-22 | SNORE |
| #1752 | 2026-04-06 | SWORN |
| #1748 | 2026-04-02 | SOBER |
Never used as an answer
35 answer-eligible R/S words have never been the solution: AROSE, ARSON, CRESS, DRESS, DROSS, ESTER, FRISK, PARSE, RASPY, RESET, RISKY, ROAST, SAFER, SANER, SATYR, SCARY, SCREE, SCREW , 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 1121 words on this list are valid guesses the game accepts but never chooses as a solution. They still make useful probes for placing R and S, but when you guess to win, a green-dotted answer word is the smarter pick.
Where R 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 1285 words. Try the busiest square first.
| Position | Words with R here | Words with S here |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 234 | 344 |
| 2nd | 239 | 17 |
| 3rd | 485 | 72 |
| 4th | 255 | 126 |
| 5th | 118 | 806 |
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. R in slot 3 covers 485 of these 1285 words and S in slot 5 covers 806 — try that shape before rarer placements.
- Favor distinct letters early. 986 of the 1285 words here use five different letters and 299 repeat one.
- Then check for repeats. Repeated letters are live here: 125 entries carry R or S more than once, including BRASS, CRASS, CRESS, 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 35 never-used R/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 R and S?
There are 1285 valid five-letter words that contain both R and S in any position, and 164 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 R and S confirmed?
RAISE — it keeps both letters and still eliminates about 97.4% of the remaining answer pool. RAISE, ARISE, AROSE are the top three by that measure. See more best Wordle starting words.
Where do R and S usually sit in these words?
R most often lands in the 3rd position (485 of 1285 words) and S in the 5th (806). That is a strong enough lean to guess on directly.
Which R/S words have been Wordle answers?
134 of them, out of 1916 puzzles so far. The most recent was RINSE (#1913) on 2026-09-14, and the first was SERVE on 2021-06-28. 35 answer-eligible words have never been used, including AROSE, ARSON, CRESS, DRESS. Browse the full past Wordle answers archive.
Do these words work in hard mode?
Yes. Once R and S show as present you must reuse them, so this is exactly your hard-mode candidate set. 986 of the 1285 words use five distinct letters and 299 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 R and S next to each other?
190 of the 1285 words place R and S in neighbouring squares: ABERS, ACERS, AFARS, AGARS, AGERS, AMIRS, among others. The remaining 1095 keep at least one square between them.
How many R/S words have no repeated letters?
986 of the 1285. Those are the ones that reveal the most board per guess, so they are the better probes early on. The other 299 double up on some letter, and 52% of the full list carries two or more vowels. For a full clue-by-clue solve, send your board to the Wordle Solver.