Wordle game help: 5-letter words with ‘OW’

Since its release, Wordle has become an important part of players’ routines. Each day, the game will pick a different five-letter mystery word from the English language, which you need to guess in up to six tries and under 24 hours if you decide to do so. There are no clues in the beginning, but the letters in the guesses turn into clues: they change colors to indicate if they’re in the right place (green), in the wrong place (yellow), or not part of the answer at all (gray). That means that most strategies revolve around a word or combination of words that can give you the most information from the start.

After a couple of guesses, you might have found some letters from the answer but still feel like you have a long way to go. If today you found a green “O” and a green “W” in consecutive positions, check out the list below for some words that contain the sequence “OW” anywhere, and keep reading to get a full breakdown of all your possible options.

Five-letter words with “OW” to try on Wordle

• ADOWN
• AGLOW
• ALLOW
• ARROW
• AVOWS
• BELOW
• BLOWN
• BLOWS
• BLOWY
• BOWED
• BOWEL
• BOWER
• BOWLS
• BOWSE
• BROWN
• BROWS
• CAHOW
• CHOWS
• CLOWN
• COWED
• COWER
• COWLS
• COWRY
• CROWD
• CROWN
• CROWS
• DHOWS
• DOWDY
• DOWED
• DOWEL
• DOWER
• DOWIE
• DOWNS
• DOWNY
• DOWRY
• DOWSE
• DROWN
• ELBOW
• EMBOW
• ENDOW
• ENOWS
• FLOWN
• FLOWS
• FOWLS
• FROWN
• FROWS
• GLOWS
• GOWAN
• GOWDS
• GOWKS
• GOWNS
• GROWL
• GROWN
• GROWS
• HOWDY
• HOWES
• HOWFF
• HOWFS
• HOWKS
• HOWLS
• INDOW
• JOWAR
• JOWED
• JOWLS
• JOWLY
• KAPOW
• KNOWN
• KNOWS
• KOTOW
• LOWED
• LOWER
• LOWES
• LOWLY
• LOWSE
• MEOWS
• MIAOW
• MOWED
• MOWER
• NOHOW
• NOWAY
• NOWTS
• OWIES
• OWING
• OWLET
• OWNED
• OWNER
• OWSEN
• OXBOW
• PLOWS
• POWER
• PROWL
• PROWS
• RESOW
• ROWAN
• ROWDY
• ROWED
• ROWEL
• ROWEN
• ROWER
• ROWTH
• SCOWS
• SEROW
• SHOWN
• SHOWS
• SHOWY
• SLOWS
• SNOWS
• SNOWY
• SOWAR
• SOWED
• SOWER
• STOWP
• STOWS
• STROW
• THROW
• TOWED
• TOWEL
• TOWER
• TOWIE
• TOWNS
• TOWNY
• TROWS
• UPBOW
• VOWED
• VOWEL
• VOWER
• VROWS
• WIDOW
• WOWED
• WOWEE
• YOWED
• YOWES
• YOWIE
• YOWLS
• YOWZA
• ZOWEE
• ZOWIE

Knowing that the “O” and the “W” are together in the word, you also know exactly where they’re placed, which already narrows down your options. Words with “OW” as the second and third letters comprise the vast majority of the list, followed by those with “OW” as the third and fourth letters. Having the “OW” at the end is more common than at the beginning, though both have few options.

After crossing out all options that don’t fit that placement, also cross out all words containing letters that came out gray to you in previous Wordle guesses of the day. Now you can start figuring out what the letters are that fill the three gaps.

For words starting with “OW,” the two letters most likely to appear are “E” and “N,” and words that contain both of those letters can contain a “D,” an “R,” or an “S.” If you don’t have much information about any of those, you can start with the word “RENDS,” which tells you all you need to know. As for words ending in “OW,” there aren’t any letters that cover this much ground. Your best shots are “A,” “E,” and “R,” but even those do not cover the entire list.

When “OW” are the second and third letters, almost half of the words contain “E” as the fourth letter. Overall, the ones most likely to appear anywhere are “D,” “E,” “L,” “R,” and “S,” but most of the letters are pretty balanced. In this case, you can’t waste any of the information you found, and it is especially important to avoid re-using letters that came out gray before.

Lastly, for words that contain “OW” as the third and fourth letters, each position follows a certain pattern. “B,” “C,” and “S” appear more frequently at the beginning, while “N,” “S,” and “Y” are more common at the end. For the second letter, “H,” “L,” “N,” and “R” are the most common options. Overall, considering all placements, “N,” “R,” and “S” appear more frequently. That means a word like “SNOWY” might be a good start if you want to keep the “OW” in the right places.

If you’re still unsure and don’t want to wait until Wordle resets at midnight local time, you can always look up the answer to today’s puzzle (which we update around 12am CT).