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whole

/hoʊl/
adjectiveadverbnoun

WHOLE means complete or undivided; this five-letter word scores 11 Scrabble points and has five one-letter neighbours.

NWL Collins ENABLE Wordle answer list

Adjective 4 meanings

  1. Entire, undivided.

    “I ate a whole fish.”

  2. Sound, uninjured, healthy.

    “He is of whole mind, but the same cannot be said about his physical state.”

  3. From which none of its constituents has been removed.

    “whole wheat; whole milk”

  4. As yet unworked.

Adverb 1 meaning

  1. In entirety; entirely; wholly.

    “I ate a fish whole!”

Noun 2 meanings

  1. Something complete, without any parts missing.

    “This variety of fascinating details didn't fall together into an enjoyable, coherent whole.”

  2. An entirety.

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

Where it comes from

Etymology

From Middle English whol, hol, hole (“healthy, unhurt, whole”), from Old English hāl (“healthy, safe”), from Proto-West Germanic *hail, from Proto-Germanic *hailaz (“whole, safe, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ilos (“healthy, whole”). The spelling with wh-, attested since ca.

Similar and opposite words

Similar
totalcompleteentireoneoverallhalewellbuxom

WHOLE is a familiar five-letter word meaning complete, undivided, or an entirety. Its two high-value consonants, W and H, lift its Scrabble total to 11 points, while its single-letter neighbours include WHILE and WHALE. The word is also marked as both a Wordle answer and an allowed guess.

WHOLE meaning and word facts at a glance

  • WHOLE has five letters and scores 11 points in Scrabble.
  • Its letter values are W=4, H=4, O=1, L=1, and E=1.
  • It means complete, undivided, or an entirety.
  • It has no anagrams in the supported game dictionaries.
  • Five one-letter neighbours include WHILE, WHOSE, and WHALE.

What does WHOLE mean, and what is its Scrabble score?

The word WHOLE describes something complete, with no part missing; as a noun, it can mean an entirety, and as an adjective, entire or undivided. “The whole” names the complete thing rather than one piece. That distinction captures the word's two roles without changing its core idea.

WHOLE scores 11 Scrabble points before board bonuses: W and H contribute 4 each, and O, L, and E contribute 1 apiece. The word appears in Collins, NWL2023, and ENABLE. The W-H pair supplies eight of the eleven points, so the vowels are not the scoring engine.

WHOLE neighbours, anagrams, and rhymes

WHOLE has no anagrams: rearranging its letters does not produce another word in the supported game dictionaries. That leaves the rack with no alternate spelling to chase, despite its familiar letters. Its five one-letter neighbours are WHILE, WHOSE, WHALE, THOLE, and DHOLE; each keeps four letters in place and changes one.

At the edges, W is a less common opening than E is as a finish among five-letter words: W starts 3%, while E ends 12%. In a pattern puzzle, that contrast matters. Keep E fixed when the final tile is known, but don't treat a W opening as a likely default.

WHOLE rhymes with ROLE, HOLE, SOLE, POLE, and MOLE, among 12 matches; longer examples include CONSOLE and CASSEROLE. Wordle players can use WHOLE as either a possible answer or an allowed guess. Its W-H opening is distinctive, but the middle O-L and final E still give you three later positions to test when clues point that way.

Rhymes with whole

All rhymes

One letter away

Change one letter, keep the rest

Questions people ask

Is WHOLE a valid Scrabble word?
Yes. WHOLE is included in Collins, NWL2023, and ENABLE, and its face-value Scrabble score is 11 points. Board premiums change the final total, but the letters alone contribute 4 points each for W and H, then 1 point each for O, L, and E.
What words are one letter away from WHOLE?
WHOLE has five one-letter neighbours: WHILE, WHOSE, WHALE, THOLE, and DHOLE. Each keeps four letters in the same positions and changes one tile. WHILE, WHOSE, and WHALE are easier to recognize; THOLE and DHOLE are less familiar, so confirm them in your game's word list.
Does WHOLE have an anagram?
No. WHOLE has no anagrams in the supported game dictionaries, so rearranging W, H, O, L, and E does not produce another valid word. Its rhyme family still includes ROLE, HOLE, SOLE, POLE, and MOLE.

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