5-letter words with F as the 1st letter and L as the 2nd letter

FL is the busiest letter-plus-L opening at five letters, edging the 96 CL words by a single entry. The list runs from everyday FLOOR, FLASH, FLOOD and FLUID to rarer FLINT, FLORA and FLECK. Thirty-seven entries count as common, 36 appear in the Wordle answer list, and Collins holds 96 of the 97 against 79 in NWL2023 and 76 in ENABLE.

FL words at a glance

• Ninety-seven tournament-dictionary words begin FL, one more than the CL group.
• Thirty-seven entries are common, more than a third of the list.
• Thirty-six are Wordle answers and all 97 are allowed guesses.
• S ends 29 words, E ends 11 and Y ends 10.
• FLAXY scores 18, then FLYBY 16 and FLAKY, FLEXO and FLUKY on 15.

How does FL compare with the other ?L openings?

FL tops every other consonant-plus-L opening: CL reaches 96, BL 90, AL 89, SL 86 and GL 75. Among the F openings, only FA beats it, and only narrowly at 101; FR, the next blend after FL, stalls at 68. That gap makes FL the single most reliable F pattern to memorise.

Why FL words are strong Wordle picks

Thirty-six of the 97 matches sit in the Wordle answer list, a third of the pattern. FLOOR, FLASH, FLOOD, FLUID, FLESH and FLAME are all possible answers, so a green F and L leave real room to work with. The S ending covers 29 words, making S the next letter worth testing.

The Y-ending words FLYBY, FLAKY and FLUKY pair high scores with real puzzle use, and the whole group averages 10.3, so even a middling FL word holds up on points.

Keep FLAXY for points, FLOOR for puzzles