5-letter words with N as the 4th letter and K as the 5th letter

The shape is __NK, so the final two tiles are locked and the list divides by the vowel in front of them: 19 words in -ANK, 16 in -INK, 13 in -UNK and 7 in -ONK. Almost every word puts L or R in the second slot, and those two letters between them cover 31 entries such as BLANK, DRINK and FRANK. Twenty-eight are Wordle answers, and 17 are everyday English.

What the N-fourth, K-fifth group looks like

• 55 matches, and all of them end in the -NK pair.
• The vowel sorts the list: -ANK 19, -INK 16, -UNK 13, -ONK 7.
• S opens 16 words, C opens 10, T opens 8 and P opens 7.
• 28 are Wordle answers and 17 count as common English.
• QUONK leads scoring at 18; CHUNK and CHANK share 14.

The -ANK, -INK and -UNK vowel families

Vowel choice does most of the work here. -ANK is the biggest family at 19 words, covering THANK, BLANK, PLANK, CRANK and SWANK. -INK follows with 16, where THINK, DRINK, BLINK and CLINK live.

-UNK adds 13 more, from CHUNK and TRUNK to SKUNK and PLUNK, while -ONK is the thin group at 7, holding CLONK, PLONK and the Collins-only QUONK. The set doubles as a verb table: DRINK, DRANK and DRUNK sit side by side.

Wordle answers and the rare-tile ceiling

Twenty-eight of the 55 sit in the Wordle answer list, including THINK, THANK, BLANK, BLINK, PRANK, FRANK, CRANK, TRUNK and SKUNK. The rest are accepted as guesses, so a green K in the last square rarely blocks a play.

Scoring stays low for most of the list. QUONK is the exception at 18, and it shares a shelf with seven other Collins-only words such as CHANK, PRONK and SPINK, none of which appear in NWL2023.

Play the opening harder than the tail