Menu
Find words

5-letter words with J as the 1st letter and K as the 3rd letter

5-letter words with J first and K third have 11 matches; JOKEY and JAKEY top the score list at 19 points apiece.

11 wordsTop pick JOKESHighest score JOKEY 19

3 of 11 are everyday words (27%). A mix of familiar words and game-only finds.

With J in 1st place, N is the most common 3rd letter (19 words). The bar under each letter shows the size of its list.

  • Length
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15

Best words to play first 11 · most-used first

  • JOKES16
  • JOKER16
  • JOKED17
  • JAKES16
  • JOKEY19
  • JUKES16
  • JAKEY19
  • JUKED17
  • JAKER16
  • JOKOL16
  • JUKUS16
All valid words 11

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

  • JAKER16
  • JAKES16
  • JAKEY19
  • JOKED17
  • JOKER16
  • JOKES16
  • JOKEY19
  • JOKOL16
  • JUKED17
  • JUKES16
  • JUKUS16

Highest-scoring words

Scrabble and Words With Friends points, before board bonuses
WordScrabbleWords With FriendsDictionaries
JOKEY1920All three
JAKEY1920Collins only
JOKED1719All three
JUKED1720All three
JOKES1618All three
JOKER1618All three
JAKES1618All three
JUKES1619All three
JAKER1618NWL only
JOKOL1619Collins only
JUKUS1620Collins · NWL

The fixed pattern is J _ K _ _, so the second, fourth, and fifth letters remain open. The 11 matches range from familiar forms such as JOKES, JOKER, and JOKED to less familiar entries such as JOKOL and JUKUS. Just three fall among the common English words tracked here, so a solved pattern can still leave you with an unfamiliar candidate, and the varied endings make the final letter the obvious next filter.

At a glance: the J-and-K pattern

  • Eleven words meet the J-first, K-third pattern across tournament dictionaries.
  • Three are common by our frequency measure.
  • Coverage varies: ENABLE includes 7, Collins 10, and NWL2023 9.
  • JOKEY and JAKEY tie for the top score at 19 points each.
  • One matching word appears among Wordle answers and in tournament dictionaries.

Which 5-letter words have J first and K third?

The complete set is JOKES, JOKER, JOKED, JAKES, JOKEY, JUKES, JAKEY, JUKED, JAKER, JOKOL, and JUKUS.

JOKES, JOKER, and JOKED share the JOK- opening, while JAKES, JAKEY, and JAKER begin JAK-. Two entries begin JUK-: JUKES and JUKED. Sorting by the final letter narrows the field: four end in S; D, R, and Y each occur twice; L occurs once.

If your last tile is fixed, start with that smaller ending group instead of testing all eleven.

How should you use this pattern in a game?

For a Wordle grid, the answer pool contains one match, while all 11 are listed as allowed guesses. A word can be accepted as a guess without belonging to the answer set. The available count does not identify which entry is the answer, so use your revealed letters rather than assuming a familiar JOK- form.

The 5-letter words with J first and K third are a narrow clue set, not a promise of everyday vocabulary: only three meet the common-word cutoff. In Scrabble, JOKEY and JAKEY each score 19 before board premiums. JOKED and JUKED score 17, while JOKES, JOKER, JAKES, JUKES, JAKER, and JOKOL score 16.

Dictionary coverage differs too, so check your game's word list before playing an unfamiliar form.

Questions people ask

Which J-and-K word scores the most in Scrabble?
JOKEY and JAKEY tie for the highest score, with 19 points each before board premiums. JOKED and JUKED follow at 17 points. The remaining entries in the score list score 16, so the two leaders stand out even before a favorable board square.
Are any J-first, K-third words Wordle answers?
Yes, one matching word is in the Wordle answer list and in a tournament dictionary. The matching answer is not identified here, so use your confirmed letters to narrow the candidates rather than treating every allowed guess as a possible answer.
Do all 11 words appear in every game dictionary?
No. ENABLE includes 7 matches, Collins includes 10, and NWL2023 includes 9. Those counts overlap, so they do not add up to the total. Check the word list used by your game before playing less familiar options such as JOKOL or JUKUS.

Keep going