5-letter words with S as the 1st letter and L as the 5th letter

L is a natural landing spot after S, and this is one of the bigger patterns at 79 matches. Twenty of them close in -LL, and the rest mostly pair L with a single vowel: -AL, -OL, -IL and -EL each hold about ten. Eighteen count as common English words, and 24 sit in the Wordle answer pool.

The S-to-L list in figures

• 79 five-letter words begin with S and end with L.
• Twenty end in -LL, from STILL and SMALL to SPELL.
• Twenty-four are Wordle answers, about one in three.
• Only SIZEL breaks 11 points, at 14.
• Eighteen count as common English words.

Why -LL and -AL dominate the endings

Twenty matches finish in -LL, and another 16 in -AL. Add the ten each for -OL, -IL and -EL and you have 66 of the 79 words landing on an L plus one vowel. That leaves a thin tail: four close in -UL, four in -RL, three in -WL and two in -YL.

The doubling in -LL is worth remembering on the board. A second L lets you hook onto an existing L, and words like SMELL, SKILL and STALL keep both tiles working at once.

5-letter words with S first and L last for Wordle

Where the points hide in the S-to-L group

SIZEL stands alone at 14 points, and the next ten scorers are modest: SHAWL and SWAYL hit 11, then SYBIL, SCOWL, SIBYL, SCHUL, SPAWL and SPYAL sit on 10. The pattern averages 7.3, one of the lowest figures around.

Every one of the 79 appears in Collins, but ENABLE holds only 56 and NWL2023 58, so 21 of the Collins matches drop out of the North American game. SIZEL, SYBIL, SIBYL and SCHUL are the kind of entries to know before a challenge.