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5-letter words with N as the 3rd letter and H as the 5th letter

Forty five-letter words with N as the 3rd letter and H as the 5th letter fit the ??N?H frame, and 17 of them are Wordle answers.

40 wordsTop pick MONTHHighest score KENCH 14

12 of 40 are everyday words (30%). A friendly list: most players will know the top picks.

With N in 3rd place, S is the most common 5th letter (321 words). The bar under each letter shows the size of its list.

  • Length
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Common words 12 · most-used first

All valid words 40

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

Letters by positionIn 63% of these words the 4th letter is C.
1st letter
  1. M13%
  2. B10%
  3. L10%
2nd letter
  1. U23%
  2. A23%
  3. I18%
4th letter
  1. C63%
  2. T10%
  3. E10%

Highest-scoring words

Scrabble and Words With Friends points, before board bonuses
Score spreadMost of these words score 10 in Scrabble; KENCH tops the list with 14. Scores before board bonuses.
  1. 88 points: 2 words
  2. 9 points: 3 words
  3. 1010 points: 10 words
  4. 11 points: 8 words
  5. 1212 points: 8 words
  6. 13 points: 8 words
  7. 1414 points: 1 words
WordScrabbleWords With FriendsDictionaries
KENCH1415All three
LYNCH1314All three
FINCH1314All three
HUNCH1314All three
WINCH1314All three
WENCH1314All three
SYNCH1313All three
MYNAH1313All three
HANCH1313Collins only
BUNCH1215All three
BENCH1214All three
PUNCH1215All three

Middle N with a final H is one of the friendliest frames in the language, and 40 words qualify. Twenty-five end in the -NCH blend, from BENCH and BUNCH to WINCH and WENCH, while MONTH, NINTH, SYNTH and TENTH close in -NTH. The average score of 11.1 is the highest in this set.

??N?H at a glance

  • 40 matches, and 25 of them finish in the -NCH blend.
  • 17 are Wordle answers, the deepest answer pool in this group.
  • KENCH tops the set at 14, with eight words one point behind.
  • The average score of 11.1 is the highest across these frames.
  • Twelve are common words; Collins has 38 and NWL2023 28.

Why do so many ??N?H words end in -NCH?

The -NCH ending is a magnet for the frame. Twenty-five of the 40 matches finish with it, and every one scores between 10 and 14 because C and H stack so neatly. LUNCH, BUNCH, BENCH, PUNCH and RANCH make the common core.

The -NTH family is much smaller. Only MONTH, NINTH, SYNTH and TENTH fit, and each keeps the same nasal-plus-th sound that finishes hundreds of longer English words.

The rest trail off into uncommon spellings such as BANDH, MYNAH and SANGH, where the final three letters carry the pattern but the words rarely appear in print.

Which ??N?H words score and solve best?

KENCH is the lone 14-point word. Behind it sit eight on 13, LYNCH, FINCH, HUNCH, WINCH, WENCH, SYNCH, MYNAH and HANCH, and a big 12-point tier with BUNCH, BENCH, CINCH, CONCH, MUNCH, PINCH and PUNCH.

Matching that scoring is a deep Wordle pool of 17 answers, including BENCH, BUNCH, CINCH, CONCH, FINCH, HUNCH, LUNCH, LYNCH, MONTH, MUNCH, NINTH, PINCH, PUNCH, RANCH, TENTH, WENCH and WINCH.

Rare forms are the trade-off. CANEH, DONAH, DUNSH and YRNEH appear in Collins only, and twelve matches never make it into NWL2023 at all.

Questions people ask

How many 5-letter words have N third and H fifth?
Forty, from BENCH and BUNCH to YRNEH. Twenty-five end in -NCH and four in -NTH, so the frame is dominated by those two consonant blends.
Which ??N?H words are Wordle answers?
Seventeen, including BENCH, BUNCH, FINCH, LUNCH, MONTH, NINTH, PUNCH, RANCH, TENTH and WINCH. That is nearly half the list, making the frame a strong Wordle clue.
What is the highest-scoring word with N third and H fifth?
KENCH, at 14 points, just edges a big 13-point group: LYNCH, FINCH, HUNCH, WINCH, WENCH, SYNCH, MYNAH and HANCH. Scores stay high because C and H combine in the -NCH tail.

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