5-letter words with K as the 1st letter and H as the 2nd letter

The fixed KH opening makes this a tight pattern, not a broad word search. KHAKI is the most familiar example, but the other entries include less common forms such as KHATS, KHORS and KHOJA. Collins includes all 15 words; ENABLE and NWL2023 each include 10, so acceptance depends on your game’s dictionary.

The KH pattern at a glance

• All 15 entries begin KH, so the remaining three letters decide the match.
• Six words end in S; A and I each finish three entries.
• KHAZI scores 21, ahead of KHOJA at 19 and KHAPH at 17.
• Collins lists all 15; ENABLE and NWL2023 list 10 apiece.
• One entry is a Wordle answer, while none rank among common English words.

How many 5-letter words have K first and H second?

There are 15 tournament-dictionary words with this exact pattern, far fewer than the 149 S-H words and 146 C-H words. Even K-I has 59 five-letter matches, making KH a narrow clue rather than a broad opening.

Endings help separate the options: six finish in S, three in A, and three in I. If the last tile is S, consider KHANS, KHAFS, KHATS, KHETS, KHORS or KHUDS. KHAKI, KHADI, KHAYA and KHOJA cover the A and I endings.

Which KH words score most, and what is the catch?

Scrabble scoring rewards the unusual spellings here: KHAZI leads at 21 points, followed by KHOJA at 19, KHAPH at 17 and KHAKI at 16. Those are base scores; premium squares change a play’s total, so separate a word’s face value from its board result.

For 5-letter words with K as the 1st letter and H as the 2nd letter, rarity is the main limitation: none are common by the site’s frequency measure, though 12 have definitions. KHAKI is the easy recognition check; most of the remaining choices need a dictionary confirmation. Collins has five more entries than either ENABLE or NWL2023.