5-letter words with L as the 2nd letter and Y as the 5th letter

The Y ending is the giveaway here, so the interest lies in the opening letters and the scores. F starts ten of the forty words and G starts seven, which is why FLAKY, FLUKY, FLAWY, GLORY, GLAZY and GLUEY dominate. The average score is a healthy 11.1, and eight words sit on Wordle's answer list.

The L-second, Y-fifth set in five facts

• 40 5-letter words match the pattern.
• Every one ends in Y; F- opens ten and G- opens seven.
• GLAZY and FLAXY tie on 18 points.
• Eight are Wordle answers and just three count as common.
• Thirty-one carry a definition and all 40 are in Collins.

Two eighteen-point words built on Z

GLAZY and FLAXY share the top score of 18, and both use a rare Z tile. ZLOTY reaches 17, FLYBY 16, and FLAKY and FLUKY 15, so the leaders nearly all carry a Z, a Y or a K.

The rest of the top ten is gentler: FLAWY on 14, then BLOWY and FLAMY on 13 and PLUMY on 12. None of those needs a premium tile, which makes them the safer plays.

Narrowing a Y-ending guess

1. Write the Y in the last slot and treat it as fixed.
2. Pick a first letter from F, G or B, which open twenty-three words.
3. Use the fourth letter to separate ALLEY from ALLOY and FLAKY from FLUKY.
4. Cross off anything rejected by your word list before you commit a tile.

Common words are scarce, answers even scarcer

Only ALLEY, ALLOY and GLORY rank inside the top 25,000 English words, yet all forty spellings are legal in Collins. NWL2023 holds thirty-one and ENABLE thirty, so nine words here exist only in Collins and will not fly on every tournament board. Treat those nine with care when you build a word around a premium tile.