5 Letter Words That Start With Y

36 words Words by letter Checked 9 Oct 2026

Here are all 36 5 letter words that start with Y in a standard word-game dictionary, sorted so the everyday words come first. Use the Wordle helper below to add letters you know, letters to leave out and a pattern, or scan the common words with their meanings.

Thirty-six words make up the Y list, which is small but lively. Everyday words such as young, years, youth and yield fill the top, then the list turns playful with yummy, yucky, yikes and yodel. Several end in S because they are plurals or verb forms, like yarns, yawns and yolks.

Kids enjoy the sound words here, and yacht is a fun one for spelling practice because its CH is silent. Yeast, yearn and yield all use a vowel pair right after the Y, which helps word-game players narrow down the second and third letters.

5-letter words starting with Y: 36
Most used: years
Most common last letter: S 18 words

5 letter words starting with Y: Wordle helper

Type the letters you know. In Pattern, use _ for an unknown letter (for example y_a_e). "Has letters" keeps words that use those letters anywhere; "Leave out" removes words with those letters.

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Most common 5-letter words that start with Y

Ranked by how often the word appears in English text. "Type" is the word's main part of speech.

#	Word	Meaning	Type
1	years	a late time of life	noun
2	young	(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth	adj.
3	yours	no short meaning listed
4	youth	a young person (especially a young man or boy)	noun
5	yards	a unit of length equal to 3 feet	noun
6	yield	be the cause or source of	verb
7	yahoo	a person who is not very intelligent or interested in culture	noun
8	yacht	an expensive vessel propelled by sail or power and used for cruising or racing	noun
9	yeast	a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells	noun
10	yummy	extremely pleasing to the sense of taste	adj.
11	yells	a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition	noun
12	yikes	no short meaning listed
13	yanks	an American who lives in the North (especially during the American Civil War)	noun
14	yearn	desire strongly or persistently	verb
15	yarns	the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events	noun
16	yolks	the yellow spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the albumen	noun
17	yawns	utter a yawn, as from lack of oxygen or when one is tired	verb
18	yucca	any of several evergreen plants of the genus Yucca having usually tall stout stems and a terminal cluster of...	noun
19	yucky	highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust	adj.
20	yerba	no short meaning listed
21	yodel	a songlike cry in which the voice fluctuates rapidly between the normal voice and falsetto	noun
22	yoked	become joined or linked together	verb
23	yogic	of or relating to yoga	adj.
24	yogis	United States baseball player (born 1925)	noun
25	youse	no short meaning listed
26	yelps	a sharp high-pitched cry (especially by a dog)	noun
27	yokes	fabric comprising a fitted part at the top of a garment	noun
28	yager	no short meaning listed
29	yurts	a circular domed dwelling that is portable and self-supporting	noun
30	yeses	an affirmative	noun
31	yogas	no short meaning listed	noun
32	yokel	a person who is not very intelligent or interested in culture	noun
33	yetis	a large hairy humanoid creature said to live in the Himalayas	noun
34	yangs	the bright positive masculine principle in Chinese dualistic cosmology	noun
35	yamen	no short meaning listed
36	yipes	bark in a high-pitched tone	verb