5 letter hangman words
196 words of exactly 5 letters, hardest first, each with a clue and a difficulty score. 66 easy, 80 medium, 50 hard.
Average score
4.5
Site average is 3.7
Hardest
fuzzy
12.3
Easiest
eerie
-4.6
Length is the first thing a guesser learns about a word, before anybody has guessed a letter, so it is worth knowing what 5 blanks actually tells you. These 196 words average 4.5 against a site average of 3.7, which makes them harder than a word picked at random from here.
The reason runs against instinct. A long word looks intimidating and is generous: every correct letter uncovers more of the board, and long words are almost always built from ordinary letters. A short word can be made entirely of letters nobody opens with, and then a guesser can spend half their allowance learning nothing.
These words are drawn from 23 categories, and the full scoring formula is on the methodology page. If you are mid-game rather than choosing, the solver takes the length and the letters you have missed and narrows it from there.
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All 196 words
| Word | Clue | Letters | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fuzzy | Covered in soft short hairs, or unclear | 5 / 4 distinct | 12.3 | Hard |
| wacky | Amusingly eccentric | 5 / 5 distinct | 11.8 | Hard |
| skull | The helmet you were issued with | 5 / 4 distinct | 10.3 | Hard |
| puppy | A very young dog | 5 / 3 distinct | 10.2 | Hard |
| mummy | Wrapped, and considerably older than you | 5 / 3 distinct | 10.2 | Hard |
| whisk | Beats air into things | 5 / 5 distinct | 9.8 | Hard |
| rugby | Fifteen players and no forward passing | 5 / 5 distinct | 9.4 | Hard |
| thumb | The one that makes the hand useful | 5 / 5 distinct | 9.4 | Hard |
| blush | The palest pink | 5 / 5 distinct | 9.4 | Hard |
| judge | Decides, having heard both sides | 5 / 5 distinct | 9.0 | Hard |
| jumbo | Very large indeed | 5 / 5 distinct | 9.0 | Hard |
| holly | Green with red berries and sharp edges | 5 / 4 distinct | 8.8 | Hard |
| swamp | Wetland where trees still manage to grow | 5 / 5 distinct | 8.6 | Hard |
| truck | Carries heavy things on the road | 5 / 5 distinct | 8.6 | Hard |
| witch | Broomstick, cauldron and pointed hat | 5 / 5 distinct | 8.6 | Hard |
| blink | Involuntary, mostly | 5 / 5 distinct | 8.6 | Hard |
| myrrh | Another of the three, and harder still | 5 / 4 distinct | 8.4 | Hard |
| skunk | Warns first, then sprays something unforgettable | 5 / 4 distinct | 8.3 | Hard |
| album | A collection meant to be heard in order | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.8 | Hard |
| cloud | White and fluffy, up in the sky | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.8 | Hard |
| egypt | Where the Nile meets the pyramids | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| chord | Three or more notes at once | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| drums | The part everyone air-plays | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| brush | For your hair or your teeth | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| candy | The entire point, if you are eight | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| blind | The alternative, and it rattles | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| porch | Between outside and inside | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| shelf | Holds books, and eventually sags | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| yacht | Sail or motor, and expensive either way | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.4 | Hard |
| mumbo | The first half of meaningless ritual talk | 5 / 4 distinct | 7.2 | Hard |
| pupil | The black circle that changes size | 5 / 4 distinct | 7.2 | Hard |
| gecko | Climbs glass thanks to microscopic toe hairs | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| pixel | The smallest thing a screen can colour | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| gizmo | A gadget you are impressed by | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| clove | Studded into an orange | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| cloak | Longer than a cape, and with a hood | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| elbow | The joint you are not supposed to lean on | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| duvet | With a cover that fights you | 5 / 5 distinct | 7.0 | Hard |
| curry | Spiced sauce dish with countless regional forms | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| shell | You find it on the beach | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| teddy | A soft bear you take to bed | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| bunny | Delivers eggs, for reasons nobody explains | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| bells | Jingling, according to the song | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| spell | Said out loud, with a wand optional | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| thigh | Between hip and knee | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.8 | Hard |
| cheek | Either side of the nose | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.7 | Hard |
| khaki | Dusty yellow-brown, from a Urdu word for dust | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.7 | Hard |
| swing | Notes played slightly unevenly, on purpose | 5 / 5 distinct | 6.6 | Hard |
| trick | The alternative to the treat | 5 / 5 distinct | 6.6 | Hard |
| kayak | Sitting, double-bladed paddle | 5 / 3 distinct | 6.6 | Hard |
| socks | Go on before the shoes | 5 / 4 distinct | 6.3 | Medium |
| lemur | Ring-tailed primate found only in Madagascar | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| chile | Extremely long and extremely narrow | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| globe | The world, spinning on a stand | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| blues | Twelve bars and a great deal of feeling | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| flute | Blown across rather than into | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| beach | Sand, sea and buckets | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| music | You listen to it and dance | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| hocus | The first word of a magic phrase | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| bicep | The one people flex | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| pulse | You can feel it at the wrist | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| pluto | Reclassified in 2006 and still argued about | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| peach | Soft orange-pink | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| umber | Earth brown, raw or burnt | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| moped | Pedals originally, hence the name | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.8 | Medium |
| sloth | Moves so slowly that algae grows in its fur | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| marsh | Wet ground with grasses rather than trees | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| party | Games, food and lots of noise | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| scarf | Wraps around your neck | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| fangs | Two of them, and pointed | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| ghost | White sheet, two holes, done | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| mauve | Pale purple with grey in it | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.4 | Medium |
| coach | Sees what the player cannot | 5 / 4 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| modem | Translates between your network and the line | 5 / 4 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| bebop | Fast, complex and deliberately difficult | 5 / 4 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| cello | Sits between your knees and sounds like a voice | 5 / 4 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| apple | Red or green, and grows on a tree | 5 / 4 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| ladle | For soup, and only soup | 5 / 4 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| lilac | Slightly pinker than lavender | 5 / 4 distinct | 5.2 | Medium |
| zebra | Striped horse relative of the African plains | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| kenya | East African country of the Great Rift Valley | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| virus | Cannot reproduce without a host cell | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| baker | Starts work while everyone else sleeps | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| banjo | Bright, loud and unmistakably itself | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| towel | Dries you after a bath | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| coven | A group of witches | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| creak | The floorboard, upstairs, when nobody is up there | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| ankle | Rolls, sprains, and takes weeks | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| liver | The largest internal organ, and it regenerates | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| navel | Where you were once attached | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| venus | Hottest planet, and it spins backwards | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| ivory | Off-white with less | 5 / 5 distinct | 5.0 | Medium |
| ferry | Carries vehicles across water | 5 / 4 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| merry | The first word of the greeting | 5 / 4 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| lorry | What the Americans call a truck | 5 / 4 distinct | 4.8 | Medium |
| elves | Small, industrious, and in the workshop | 5 / 4 distinct | 4.7 | Medium |
| wrist | Between the hand and the forearm | 5 / 5 distinct | 4.6 | Medium |
| hyena | Bone-crushing scavenger with a laughing call | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| nepal | Home to the highest mountain on earth | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| comet | Ice and dust that grows a tail near the sun | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| pilot | Checks the list even after ten thousand hours | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| coral | An animal that builds a reef | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| cabin | Your room, at sea or in the air | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| hotel | Somebody else makes the bed | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| scale | The notes in order, going up | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| tempo | How fast, measured in beats per minute | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| bread | Flour and water, baked | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| chair | You sit on it | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| dance | Moving to the music | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| dream | Happens while you are asleep | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| honey | Sweet and sticky, made by bees | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| plane | Flies in the sky | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| slide | You go down it in the park | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| table | You eat your dinner at it | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| carol | Sung on doorsteps in the cold | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| angel | Goes at the very top | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| choir | Singing, in the cold, for charity | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| curse | Put on somebody, and hard to lift | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| haunt | To keep coming back to one place | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| lunar | Of the moon | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| probe | Sent out and not expected back | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| amber | Orange-yellow, and fossilised resin | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| cream | Off-white with warmth in it | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| ebony | Black, from the wood | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| lemon | Bright pale yellow | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| ochre | Yellow-brown pigment used since prehistory | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| pearl | White with a sheen | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| royal | The bright, saturated blue | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| shade | The colour with black added | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| barge | Flat-bottomed, and slow on purpose | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.8 | Medium |
| darts | Treble twenty is the target, then double out | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| shirt | You wear it on the top half | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| story | Read at bedtime | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| frost | Overnight, and gone by ten | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| azure | The blue of a clear sky | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| olive | Dull yellow-green, and a fruit | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.4 | Easy |
| sushi | Vinegared rice with fish, rolled or pressed | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| ghana | West African nation, first to gain independence there | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| malta | Tiny island nation of limestone and harbours | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| yemen | Southern Arabia, with tower houses of mud brick | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| ruler | Straight lines and, occasionally, measurements | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| sheep | Woolly, and it says baa | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| icing | The white layer on top | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| broom | For the bits the vacuum missed | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.2 | Easy |
| koala | Sleeps most of the day and eats eucalyptus | 5 / 4 distinct | 3.1 | Easy |
| snake | Long, has no legs, and hisses | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| water | You drink it and you swim in it | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| raven | Nevermore, apparently | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| texas | Second largest, and it used to be a republic | 5 / 5 distinct | 3.0 | Easy |
| grass | Green, and it needs cutting | 5 / 4 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| brass | Yellower than bronze | 5 / 4 distinct | 2.8 | Easy |
| verse | The bit that moves the story on | 5 / 4 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| nerve | Carries the signal | 5 / 4 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| rover | Drives, drills, and photographs | 5 / 4 distinct | 2.7 | Easy |
| cameo | Blink and you missed them | 5 / 5 distinct | 2.2 | Easy |
| house | Where you live | 5 / 5 distinct | 2.2 | Easy |
| mouse | Small, grey and very quick | 5 / 5 distinct | 2.2 | Easy |
| idaho | Potatoes, mountains and very few people | 5 / 5 distinct | 2.2 | Easy |
| taupe | Grey-brown, named after a mole | 5 / 5 distinct | 2.2 | Easy |
| bison | Shaggy-shouldered giant of the grasslands | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| ramen | Noodles in a broth simmered for hours | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| laser | Light that is all one colour and marching in step | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| orbit | Falling forever without ever landing | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| actor | Says someone else's words as if they were theirs | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| nurse | Present for the whole of it | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| acorn | A whole oak, packaged | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| metro | Underground, frequent, and confusing at first | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| horse | You ride it, and it says neigh | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| tiger | Orange with black stripes | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| feast | More food than anyone planned to eat | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| brain | About three pounds, and doing all of this | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| heart | Beats about a hundred thousand times a day | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| spine | Thirty three vertebrae, stacked | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| solar | Of the sun | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| slate | Blue-grey, from the rock | 5 / 5 distinct | 1.8 | Easy |
| beige | The colour of not making a decision | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.6 | Easy |
| atlas | Maps, bound and out of date | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| essay | Introduction, argument, conclusion | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| scene | One place, one continuous stretch of time | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| boots | For puddles and mud | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| robot | A machine that moves by itself | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| shoes | You put them on your feet | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| attic | Full of things nobody will ever want | 5 / 4 distinct | 1.2 | Easy |
| opera | Sung all the way through | 5 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| piano | Eighty eight keys and a great deal of practice | 5 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| maine | The northeast corner, and the lobsters | 5 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| sepia | Brown, and the colour of old photographs | 5 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| canoe | Kneeling, single-bladed paddle | 5 / 5 distinct | 0.2 | Easy |
| train | Runs on rails and goes choo choo | 5 / 5 distinct | -0.2 | Easy |
| moose | Largest deer, with broad flattened antlers | 5 / 4 distinct | -0.4 | Easy |
| otter | Playful swimmer that cracks shells on its chest | 5 / 4 distinct | -0.8 | Easy |
| toast | Glasses raised and something said | 5 / 4 distinct | -0.8 | Easy |
| treat | The alternative to the trick | 5 / 4 distinct | -0.8 | Easy |
| oasis | Water where there should not be any | 5 / 4 distinct | -2.4 | Easy |
| orion | The hunter, with a very famous belt | 5 / 4 distinct | -2.4 | Easy |
| eerie | Strange in a way you cannot place | 5 / 3 distinct | -4.6 | Easy |
Questions
What are some 5 letter words for hangman?
There are 196 on this site, every one with a clue and a difficulty score. The hardest is FUZZY at 12.3 and the easiest is EERIE at -4.6.
Are 5 letter words hard in hangman?
On average they score 4.5, against 3.7 across every word here, so they are harder than the site average. Short words are generally harder than people expect, because a long word reveals more of the board with every correct guess.
How do I guess a 5 letter word?
Start with E and A, then move to consonants rather than clearing the remaining vowels. At 5 letters the number of blanks is itself a strong clue, and once two or three positions are filled the pattern usually narrows the field faster than frequency does.
Can the solver work from just the length?
Yes. Set the length, leave every box empty and mark the letters you have already missed, and it will return every 5 letter word that still fits along with the best letter to try next.