5-Letter Words Ending in E, T, Y: Lists by Last Letter
To find 5 letter words ending with a given letter, use the table below: it counts the words for each common last letter and shows examples. The last letter is the one clue most players ignore, and it narrows a guess race faster than most first-guess advice.
How many five-letter words are there?
The list below holds 1155 common five-letter words from the game’s English word list — every one of them can be the hidden word of a round.
The most common last letters, with examples
This table is counted straight from the Word Duel answer list, the common base-form words the hidden word is drawn from. Each row is one last letter, how many answers end with it, and a sample of them.
| Last letter | Words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| E | 245 | abuse, aware, cause, drape, forge, grape, juice, movie, plane, raise, shade, snake, style, unite |
| T | 132 | adapt, beast, cheat, debit, eject, first, grant, inlet, mount, print, roost, shout, sweat, trust |
| Y | 128 | abbey, buddy, dairy, early, fairy, giddy, heavy, jazzy, lucky, mummy, petty, repay, shaky, stray |
| R | 107 | actor, boxer, clear, dryer, flair, inner, lever, maker, never, owner, razor, solar, tiger, vapor |
| L | 84 | angel, canal, cruel, equal, hazel, legal, model, pearl, rebel, shell, spell, still, trail, viral |
| H | 80 | batch, birth, clash, crush, earth, finch, harsh, lunch, mouth, peach, punch, sloth, tooth, watch |
| D | 65 | acrid, beard, blond, brand, child, flood, gourd, guild, mound, pound, salad, speed, sword, vivid |
| K | 60 | black, block, brisk, cheek, clock, croak, frank, knock, shack, slack, sneak, steak, thank, trick |
| N | 59 | acorn, baron, brain, clean, demon, grain, heron, linen, ocean, pecan, reign, satin, stern, union |
| A | 31 | arena, cobra, comma, extra, hyena, larva, manga, mocha, opera, pasta, polka, salsa, tiara, vista |
The spread is lopsided. A handful of last letters cover a large share of the list, and the rest are rare. That imbalance is what makes the ending worth testing early.
Why the last letter is the fastest clue
Most players spend their first guesses on the first letters and the vowels. The last slot is different: the top few endings account for a big slice of all answers, so one letter in position five can cut the candidate list sharply. A green in the last slot is worth more than a green in the middle, because the middle slots are spread across many letters.
An ending that comes back grey is just as useful. If the most common last letter is absent from the word entirely, a whole cluster of candidates disappears at once.
How to use a known ending in a guess race
Word Duel is a race, not a turn game. Everyone at the table guesses at the same time, and you have six guesses per round. You can see rivals' colour grids but not their letters, so a rival with a green in the last slot tells you something you can use.
Once you hold a green or amber, build the next guess around it:
- Put a confirmed last letter in slot five and spend the other four slots on letters you have not tested.
- If the last letter came back amber, move it. It is in the word, just not there.
- Do not repeat a grey letter. A guess can ignore earlier clues, but doing so wastes one of six rows.
Guesses are not forced to follow earlier clues, so you may spend one row on a throwaway word that tests four new letters and an ending. A word that is not in the list is refused and costs nothing, so you can try ideas freely.
Which positions to test next
After the last slot, the clue you hold decides where to look. The table gives a rule of thumb.
| Clue you have | What to try next |
|---|---|
| Green in the last slot | Keep it there and test fresh letters in slots one to four |
| Amber last letter | Move it to another slot and keep the rest new |
| Grey on a common ending | Switch to a word that tests a different common ending |
| Two ambers, no greens | Swap their slots in the next guess |
| Only greys so far | Use a guess that tests five new letters |
A good rhythm is to learn the ending by guess two, then spend guesses three and four on the first and middle slots. Keep guesses five and six for a final answer, not for exploring.
How Word Duel marks letters
Every tile gets one of three colours. Green means the right letter in the right place. Amber means the letter is in the word, but somewhere else. Grey means it is not in the word. The keyboard mirrors this: green and amber keys are filled in, and grey keys are dimmed.
Repeated letters are settled in two passes. Exact hits are marked green first. Then each remaining letter is marked amber only while the word still has an unmatched copy of it, and grey after that. So a doubled letter in your guess can show one amber and one grey, which tells you the word holds only one copy.
What counts as a word
The hidden word is always drawn from the answer list of common base-form words. The guess dictionary is wider: it also accepts plurals, conjugations and other word forms, but those can never be the answer. If you suspect a word is an extra form rather than a base word, it is a safe probe but a poor final guess.
How common is each letter overall?
Last letters are one slice of the picture. This table shows how often each letter appears across the whole answer list, which helps when you pick the other four letters of a guess.
| Letter | Words containing it | Words starting with it |
|---|---|---|
| E | 546 | 36 |
| A | 488 | 62 |
| R | 468 | 55 |
| T | 345 | 71 |
| O | 334 | 19 |
| L | 330 | 45 |
| I | 325 | 15 |
| S | 317 | 183 |
| N | 269 | 20 |
| C | 249 | 110 |
What to do with this
Next game, make your second guess an ending test: slot five gets a top ending from the table, and the other four slots get letters you have not tried. For more on opening choices, read best starting words and word guessing strategy tips, and browse the full set of lists in 5-letter words. Then put it to work against live rivals in Word Duel, free for guests with no signup.
You may also like: the hardest 5-letter words, how to play a 5-letter word game.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common last letter in 5 letter words?
Check the table above: it ranks the top ten last letters by how many answers end with them. The top few cover a large share of the list, so testing one of them early is usually worth a guess.
Can I use a plural as my final guess?
Plurals and other word forms are accepted as guesses, but the hidden word is only ever drawn from the answer list of common base-form words. Use them to test letters, not as your last try.
Does a word not in the list cost me a guess?
No. A word that is not in the list is refused, the row shakes, and no guess is used. You still have all six.
How do I find words ending in a given letter?
Look up that letter in the table above for a sample, or open the full lists in the 5-letter words post. In a live round, put the letter in slot five and fill the other four slots with letters you have not tested.
Do I have to use the clues from earlier guesses?
No. Word Duel has no hard mode, so a guess can ignore earlier clues. The only limits are five letters, a word from the list, and no repeating your own word in the same round.
How does the game colour a letter that appears twice?
Exact matches are marked green first. A repeated letter is then marked amber only while the hidden word still has an unmatched copy, and grey after that.