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

V sits in the first slot, N in the third, and the remaining three letters are open. Familiar options such as VENUE and VENOM sit beside less everyday entries. Only six matches fall among the 25,000 most frequent English words, so start with recognizable choices when solving a clue.

At a glance: the V-N pattern

• There are 26 five-letter matches with V first and N third.
• VENUE, VINYL, VENUS, and VENOM are familiar examples.
• Six matches rank among the 25,000 most frequent English words.
• VINYL, VENEY, and VINEW tie for the top score at 11 points.

How many words fit this V-N pattern?

There are 26 matches in Collins, compared with 21 in NWL2023 and 20 in ENABLE. If your game follows a narrower list, a word that looks valid may be rejected; confirm the tournament list before committing to an obscure play.

Three matches are Wordle answers, and all 26 are allowed guesses. The answer set is much narrower than the playable-guess set, so use the full group to test letters, not as a list of likely solutions.

Which V-N pattern words score the most?

VINYL, VENEY, and VINEW lead the score list at 11 points each. VENOM and VINCA follow at 10, while VANDA, VENGE, VENDS, and VINED score 9. The top score belongs to several less familiar entries, not just the everyday word VINYL.

For a solving clue, try VENUE or VENUS first if the ending is unknown; both are recognizable choices within this narrow pattern. If the final letter is S, the pattern has 10 matches ending in S, more than any other ending. The full set averages 8.8 points, but rare entries can be poor practical guesses.