The Most Common Letters in 5-Letter Words, Position by Position
In the 1,197 common five-letter words in our list, E is the most likely letter to appear (in 47.6% of words), followed by A (43.7%) and R (39.1%). But where a letter appears matters as much as how often: S is by far the most common first letter, while E and Y lead the last position.
Key facts
- E appears in 47.6% of common 5-letter words, A in 43.7%, R in 39.1%.
- Most common first letter: S (16.4% of words). Most common last letter: E (20.1%).
- Only 12.7% of common 5-letter words start with a vowel.
- Plurals are not in our list, so S is rare at the end; that matches most word-puzzle answer lists.
Letters that appear anywhere in the word
| Letter | Words containing it | Share |
|---|---|---|
| E | 570 | 47.6% |
| A | 523 | 43.7% |
| R | 468 | 39.1% |
| S | 367 | 30.7% |
| T | 366 | 30.6% |
| O | 345 | 28.8% |
| I | 333 | 27.8% |
| L | 320 | 26.7% |
| N | 271 | 22.6% |
| C | 246 | 20.6% |
The top letters in each position
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most common | S (196) | A (167) | A (189) | E (155) | E (240) |
| Second | C (116) | R (154) | I (139) | A (100) | Y (136) |
| Third | B (88) | O (151) | O (111) | S (96) | T (130) |
| Fourth | T (79) | E (129) | E (103) | N (89) | R (107) |
| Fifth | P (77) | I (105) | R (89) | C (88) | H (82) |
What it means for word puzzles
- A strong opening guess should test E, A and R, plus one or two of S, T, O, I and L.
- Vowels cluster in the middle: A is the top letter in both the second and third positions.
- Y is the second most common last letter (as in happy, early, party), so do not forget it.
- Words like crane, slate, trace and arise cover several top letters at once.
Want to practise? The random 5-letter word generator shows a meaning with every word.
Sources
- Our own count of 1,197 common five-letter dictionary-form words. Common words defined by wordfreq frequency.
