Word finder

Q: Can I combine filters?

Yes, every filter must match at once. For example, pattern ?ra?? with E excluded gives 122 words. Must include and Exclude cannot contain the same letter – the finder will tell you if they do.

Q: How is “Contains” different from “Must include”?

Contains looks for letters next to each other in that order: ee matches TREE but not THESE. Must include only needs the letters somewhere in the word, in any order; typing a letter twice requires it twice.

The word finder searches our 172,670-word list with any mix of filters: a pattern with unknown positions such as c?a?e, starts with, ends with, contains, letters the word must include or must not include, and length. All filters apply together and results update as you type.

13 words found

Bold = in SCOWL size ≤ 50 (common).

5-letter words 13

cease
chafe
chape
chare
chase
clade
clave
crake
crane
crape
crate
crave
craze

In numbers

Words matching c?a?e	13
Words in our list	172,670
Most frequent letter in all words	E (11.51% of letters)
Least frequent letter	Q (0.16% of letters)

Which filter to use

You know…	Use	Example
Some letters and their positions	Pattern	`?ee?` → BEEF, DEER, FEET…
How the word begins	Starts with	`qu` → words that start with QU
How the word ends	Ends with	`ight` → words that end in IGHT
Letters it has, position unknown	Must include	`aeiou` → words with all five vowels
Letters it does not have	Exclude	`rst`
Only the letters on your rack	Unscrambler	word unscrambler

For five-letter guessing games, where a gray letter can still appear once if another copy is green or yellow, the 5-letter word solver handles the colours for you.

Questions people ask

How do I search for a word with missing letters?

Type the letters you know in the Pattern field and a ? for each unknown letter. c?a?e finds five-letter words with C first, A third and E last – CEASE, CHAFE, CHAPE, CHARE, CHASE, CLADE and more. A dot, underscore or space works as well.

Can I combine filters?

Yes, every filter must match at once. For example, pattern ?ra?? with E excluded gives 122 words. Must include and Exclude cannot contain the same letter – the finder will tell you if they do.

How is “Contains” different from “Must include”?

Contains looks for letters next to each other in that order: ee matches TREE but not THESE. Must include only needs the letters somewhere in the word, in any order; typing a letter twice requires it twice.

Does the word finder work for crossword clues?

It finds words that fit a pattern of letters, which helps once you know some crossing letters. It does not read clues – our word list has no definitions.

Sources

Updated 9 November 2026 by Daniel Gavalec. Every number on this page is calculated from our word list by a script – see how the word list is built. Found an error? Tell us.