5-letter words with N as the 1st letter and L as the 3rd letter

Only 12 tournament-dictionary words match N?L??, and the list splits sharply by familiarity: just two count as common. Collins accepts all 12, compared with 7 in NWL2023 and 6 in ENABLE. NYLON and NELLY lead the score table, but the strongest practical clue is the ending: S appears far more often than any other final letter.

5-letter words with N as the 1st letter and L as the 3rd letter

• 12 tournament-dictionary words fit N?L??: N in position one, L in position three.
• NYLON and NELLY tie for the top score at 8 points.
• Seven matches end in S; the other five end in A, D, N, or Y.
• Only two entries qualify as common English words.
• One of the 12 also appears in the Wordle answer list.

Which endings appear most often?

Seven of the 12 words finish in S, while A appears twice and D, N, and Y appear once apiece. That makes the final letter a useful filter: try N?L?S first when S is still available. NOLES, NULLS, NELIS, NALAS, and NILLS show the range of words in that group.

The S ending alone accounts for more matches than the four other endings combined. For points, NYLON and NELLY lead at 8 each; NALED scores 6.

NULLA, NOLES, NULLS, NALLA, NELIS, NALAS, and NILLS score 5 apiece. The top pair tie, so neither beats the other on its base score alone.

Can you use these N-and-L words in Wordle?

The pattern has one Wordle answer-list match and 12 allowed guesses. Those counts serve different purposes: only one word is an answer, so the other matches should not be treated as possible solutions. The matching answer is not identified here, but the count narrows the answer-list possibilities.

Dictionary coverage changes the practical list: Collins contains all 12 matches, while NWL2023 contains 7 and ENABLE contains 6. Several entries therefore do not carry across every tournament list. Keep the answer count separate from the broader allowed-guess count when solving.