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5-letter words with O as the 1st letter and U as the 4th letter

Only twelve 5-letter words have O as the 1st letter and U as the 4th, half of them ending in UM.

12 wordsTop pick OCCURHighest score OAKUM 11

2 of 12 are everyday words (17%). A mix of familiar words and game-only finds.

With O in 1st place, E is the most common 4th letter (69 words). The bar under each letter shows the size of its list.

  • Length
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Best words to play first 12 · most-used first

  • OCCUR9
  • OPIUM9
  • ODOUR6
  • ODIUM8
  • OLEUM7
  • OAKUM11
  • ORGUE6
  • ODEUM8
  • ONIUM7
  • OMBUS9
  • ONCUS7
  • ONKUS9
All valid words 12

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

  • OAKUM11
  • OCCUR9
  • ODEUM8
  • ODIUM8
  • ODOUR6
  • OLEUM7
  • OMBUS9
  • ONCUS7
  • ONIUM7
  • ONKUS9
  • OPIUM9
  • ORGUE6
Letters by positionIn 50% of these words the 5th letter is M.
2nd letter
  1. D25%
  2. N25%
  3. A8%
3rd letter
  1. I25%
  2. K17%
  3. C17%
5th letter
  1. M50%
  2. S25%
  3. R17%

Highest-scoring words

Scrabble and Words With Friends points, before board bonuses
WordScrabbleWords With FriendsDictionaries
OAKUM1113All three
OCCUR912All three
OPIUM912All three
OMBUS912Collins only
ONKUS911Collins only
ODIUM810All three
ODEUM810All three
OLEUM710All three
ONIUM710All three
ONCUS710Collins only
ODOUR67All three
ORGUE68Collins only

A dozen is a short list, and it splits into two habits. Six words close on -UM, namely OPIUM, ODIUM, OLEUM, OAKUM, ODEUM and ONIUM. Then four rarities, OMBUS, ONCUS, ONKUS and ORGUE, appear only in Collins, which leaves OCCUR and ODOUR as the two entries most players will recognise.

The O-first, U-fourth dozen in brief

  • 12 words match the pattern, and all of them are in Collins.
  • Six end in -UM, from OPIUM and ODIUM to OAKUM.
  • Only 8 appear in ENABLE and NWL2023.
  • OCCUR and OPIUM are the only common words and the only Wordle answers.
  • OAKUM tops scoring at 11, with OCCUR, OPIUM, OMBUS and ONKUS on 9.

Why so many of these words end in -UM

The -UM tail is the giveaway that most of the list is borrowed Latin. OPIUM, ODIUM and OLEUM are neutral nouns, and OAKUM, ODEUM and ONIUM follow the same shape. A green M in the last square cuts the list to six words at once.

The remaining six are a mixed bag. OCCUR and ODOUR are the everyday pair, while OMBUS, ONCUS, ONKUS and ORGUE never crossed into North American lists.

Scores, and the one word that breaks ten

OAKUM is the only entry above 10, and the K does the work. Everything else lands between 7 and 9, since O and U are one-point tiles. The average score is 8, so treat this as a low-risk group rather than a high-reward one.

Four words sit only in Collins. OMBUS, ONCUS, ONKUS and ORGUE all fail in NWL2023 and ENABLE games, so check your game's word list before playing one.

A neat trick for the -UM set

Tip

Once you place U in the fourth square, think Latin. OPIUM, ODIUM, OLEUM, OAKUM, ODEUM and ONIUM are six of the twelve words, so an M-heavy follow-up tests half the group at once.

Questions people ask

How many 5-letter words have O first and U fourth?
There are 12, and every one appears in Collins. Six of them end in -UM, and only 8 show up in both ENABLE and NWL2023, so the group is narrow.
Which O-first, U-fourth words are valid in Wordle?
OCCUR and OPIUM are the only two Wordle answers, and all 12 are accepted as guesses. OCCUR is also the most common word in the group.
What is the highest-scoring word here?
OAKUM reaches 11 on its K. OCCUR, OPIUM, OMBUS and ONKUS tie on 9, and ODIUM and ODEUM follow on 8. Every other word lands on 7, so the spread is tight.

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