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5-letter words with B as the 1st letter and C as the 3rd letter

22 5-letter words with B as the 1st letter and C as the 3rd letter form the thinnest B pattern, led by BACON and BICEP.

22 wordsTop pick BUCKSHighest score BACCY 14

3 of 22 are everyday words (14%). A mix of familiar words and game-only finds.

With B in 1st place, A is the most common 3rd letter (100 words). The bar under each letter shows the size of its list.

  • Length
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Best words to play first 22 · most-used first

  • BUCKS13
  • BACON9
  • BACKS13
  • BICEP11
  • BECKS13
  • BOCCE11
  • BUCKO13
  • BACHA12
  • BACCA11
  • BOCHE12
  • BOCCA11
  • BACCY14
  • BACCO11
  • BOCKS13
  • BACHS12
  • BECKE13
  • BOCCI11
  • BUCHU12
  • BICCY14
  • BECAP11
  • BICES9
  • BUCKU13
All valid words 22

A to Z. Includes rare and Collins-only words. Linked tiles open the word's meaning, score and rhymes.

  • BACCA11
  • BACCO11
  • BACCY14
  • BACHA12
  • BACHS12
  • BACKS13
  • BACON9
  • BECAP11
  • BECKE13
  • BECKS13
  • BICCY14
  • BICEP11
  • BICES9
  • BOCCA11
  • BOCCE11
  • BOCCI11
  • BOCHE12
  • BOCKS13
  • BUCHU12
  • BUCKO13
  • BUCKS13
  • BUCKU13
Letters by positionIn 32% of these words the 2nd letter is A.
2nd letter
  1. A32%
  2. O23%
  3. U18%
4th letter
  1. C32%
  2. K32%
  3. H18%
5th letter
  1. S27%
  2. A14%
  3. E14%

Highest-scoring words

Scrabble and Words With Friends points, before board bonuses
Score spreadMost of these words score 11 in Scrabble; BACCY tops the list with 14. Scores before board bonuses.
  1. 99 points: 2 words
  2. 10 points: 0 words
  3. 1111 points: 7 words
  4. 12 points: 4 words
  5. 1313 points: 7 words
  6. 14 points: 2 words
WordScrabbleWords With FriendsDictionaries
BACCY1416Collins · NWL
BICCY1416Collins only
BUCKS1316All three
BACKS1315All three
BECKS1315All three
BUCKO1316All three
BOCKS1315All three
BECKE1315Collins only
BUCKU1317Collins only
BACHA1213Collins only
BOCHE1213ENABLE · Collins
BACHS1213Collins only

A middle C is the thinnest slot in the B family, and this list holds just 22 matches. Three count as common, BACKS, BACON and BUCKS, and only BACON and BICEP can win Wordle. The compensation is a scoring average of 11.9, the highest of any B middle.

Inside the 22 B first, C third words

  • Just 22 B-words take a C in the third slot.
  • That is a fifth of the 100 words built on a middle A.
  • Common words number only three: BACKS, BACON and BUCKS.
  • Wordle answers number only two: BACON and BICEP.
  • BACCY and BICCY share the top score at 14.

Why are there so few B-C words?

A hard C rarely follows a short vowel inside a five-letter word, so the pattern collects stragglers. BACON, BICEP, BUCKS, BACKS, BECKS, BOCCE, BOCKS and BUCKO stand beside dialect forms such as BACCA, BOCCA and BACCO.

Nothing here holds a J, Q, X or Z, yet the average still climbs to 11.9, because C, Y and the doubled C pile on points without a rare tile.

Seven matches end in -CKS and seven double the C. Length helps only slightly: 49 six-letter and 92 seven-letter versions match the same frame.

Reading the endings in a B-C grid

Note

Six of the 22 end in S, and the rest scatter across A, E, O, P, U and Y. Start with the final letter, because one ending cuts the field to six words or fewer.

Where the points come from

BACCY and BICCY share the top score at 14, each with a C pair and a Y. BACKS, BECKS, BOCKS, BUCKO, BUCKS and BECKE follow at 13, so eight of the 22 reach 12 or better.

The catch is dictionary reach. Collins lists all 22, but NWL2023 keeps 13 and ENABLE 12, so nine entries are Collins-only. Check your game's list before playing BACCA or BOCCA.

Questions people ask

How many B-words use a C as the third letter?
Twenty-two, the smallest middle-letter group for B. Only three of them rank as common, BACKS, BACON and BUCKS, and just BACON and BICEP are Wordle answers.
Are any B-first, C-third words Wordle solutions?
Two, BACON and BICEP. The other twenty are still legal guesses, so they can help you place the B and C even though they can never be the answer.
Which B-C word scores highest?
BACCY and BICCY tie at 14 points, each with a doubled C and a Y. Six more entries reach 13: BACKS, BECKS, BOCKS, BUCKO, BUCKS and BECKE.

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