5-letter words with D as the 1st letter and D as the 4th letter

A doubled D gives these words a distinctive spine, with the first and fourth tiles both worth 2 points, so the middle two carry the variety. Half the group ends in Y, including DADDY, DANDY and DOWDY, and half ends in S, such as DEEDS and DYADS. Four of the 18 are common words.

What the doubled-D frame contains

• Eighteen matches, all with D first and D fourth.
• Collins lists all 18; NWL2023 has 12 and ENABLE 11.
• Four are Wordle answers: DADDY, DANDY, DIODE and DOWDY.
• Endings split evenly, 8 in S and 8 in Y.
• DOWDY is the top Scrabble play at 13 points.
• The two middle tiles decide the score in every case.

Why the list splits into Y and S endings

Two endings account for sixteen of the 18 words. The Y group is a run of doubled-D adjectives and nicknames, DADDY, DANDY, DOWDY, DUDDY, DODDY and DEEDY, and the S group gathers plurals such as DEEDS, DYADS and DOWDS.

A Y ending pairs well with the D at position four, since DOWDY and DADDY both follow a D-vowel-D pattern the frame forces. The S forms are mostly simple plurals, which is why four entries landed in the common-word set.

How the scores line up

DOWDY is the clear leader at 13 points on the strength of its W. DADDY, DIDDY, DUDDY and DODDY then tie at 11, and DANDY, DOODY, DYADS, DEEDY and DOWDS all reach 10.

Because the two Ds are fixed, scoring depends on the two middle letters. A W or Y there pushes a word past 10, while plain vowels keep DADDY-style picks in the low teens at best. The W behind DOWDY is the only letter here above 4 points.

A dictionary note