5-letter words with M as the 1st letter and Y as the 2nd letter

The MY- opening is rare: MA- covers 188 five-letter words and MO- another 163, while this pattern musters only 15. Six of them keep a vowel right after the Y, which is why MYOMA, MYOPE and MYOPS cluster together. MYTHS is the single common word, and MYRRH carries the pattern into the Wordle answer list.

MY??? at a glance

• Fifteen matches begin MY- at length five.
• Six place a vowel in the third slot.
• MYXOS leads the scores at 17.
• MYRRH is the only Wordle answer.
• The list averages 12.5 points a word.

Why the MY- opening is so thin

Y rarely follows M in English, so the pattern barely competes with its neighbours. MA- gathers 188 matches and MO- another 163, while MY- holds only 15. Six of those 15 do put a vowel straight after the Y, and five of the six begin MYO-: MYOID, MYOMA, MYOPE, MYOPY and MYOPS.

The remaining nine break into smaller shapes. MYT- supplies MYTHS, MYTHY and MYTHI, MYN- supplies MYNAH and MYNAS, and MYA-, MYL-, MYR-, MYS- and MYX- each contribute one word. Most of these spellings come from borrowed botanical or medical terms rather than everyday speech.

The scores stay unusually high

Every match averages 12.5 points, well above the 8 to 10 that most five-letter frames return, because the Y tile alone is worth 4. MYXOS, MYTHY and MYOPY use their X or second Y to reach 17, 16 and 15, and MYRRH adds 13 from a doubled R. Nothing in the list scores below 10.

What the dictionaries disagree on