Five-letter words with double letters
A five-letter word with double letters repeats a letter — usually side by side, like the LL in HELLO. Puzzico’s answer list has 173 such words. Here they are, grouped by the doubled letter, plus how the double-letter trap costs guesses and how to use it.
A five-letter word “with double letters” is one that uses the same letter twice. Most of the time the two sit side by side — the LL in HELLO, the PP in APPLE, the EE in GREEN. Of the words that can be a Puzzico answer, 173 have an adjacent double letter, and 390 repeat a letter once you also count the split repeats like the two L’s in LEVEL. Below is the adjacent-double list grouped by which letter doubles, why a repeat quietly costs guesses, and how to turn it to your advantage.
Why the double-letter trap costs guesses
Most guessers fill five slots assuming five different letters, because that is what the average word does. A repeat breaks that habit twice over. First, a green or yellow tile does not mean the letter is used only once — ALLOW and CROSS both hide a second copy of a letter you might think you have already placed. Second, when you are down to a couple of empty squares, forgetting that a known letter can repeat is one of the most common mistakes people make: they rule out the answer because “that letter is already used” when the word simply uses it again.
The common double-letter words, by letter
The busiest doubles are the vowels and the soft consonants. These are the ones worth recognising on sight:
- EE (36 words) — GREEN, GREET, CHEER, FLEET, BREED, CREEK, KNEEL, AGREE.
- OO (31) — BLOOM, FLOOR, GLOOM, GOOSE, BROOM, BROOK, GROOM, IGLOO.
- LL (31) — HELLO, CHILL, DRILL, GRILL, BELLY, ALLEY, ALLOW, DWELL.
- SS (18) — CLASS, CROSS, DRESS, GLASS, GRASS, CHESS, BLISS, BRASS.
- RR (14) — CARRY, HURRY, MERRY, SORRY, BERRY, FERRY, ERROR, ARROW.
- TT (10) — OTTER, PETTY, WITTY, PUTTY, MOTTO, ATTIC, UTTER, LATTE.
- FF (8) — CLIFF, STAFF, STUFF, SNIFF, BLUFF, STIFF, WHIFF, OFFER.
- NN, PP, DD — FUNNY, SUNNY, PENNY, INNER; APPLE, HAPPY, HIPPO, PUPPY, UPPER; BUDDY, MUDDY, TEDDY, GIDDY.
- Rarer doubles — DIZZY / FUZZY / PIZZA (ZZ), HOBBY / LOBBY / RABBI (BB), FOGGY (GG). There are no MM words among the answers, and none with a triple letter.
Every word here is a valid Puzzico answer, not a filler — for the exhaustive, filterable versions see the word lists.
Where the double sits
Of the 173 adjacent-double answers, the double is most often in the middle:
| Double occupies | Answers | Share | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letters 1–2 | 1 | 0.6% | LLAMA |
| Letters 2–3 | 32 | 18.5% | ALLEY, APPLE, BOOST, GOOSE |
| Letters 3–4 | 101 | 58.4% | BELLY, BLOOM, CARRY, CHEER |
| Letters 4–5 | 39 | 22.5% | AGREE, CHILL, CLASS, DRESS |
So when you have the first two letters and the last letter placed and the middle will not close, a double in positions 3 and 4 is the single most likely explanation. Vowel doubles are also common: 67 of the 173 (38.7%) double a vowel, and every one of those is EE (36) or OO (31).
Split repeats: the sneakier half
The double that catches good players is the one that is not side by side. A word like AGAIN, ALARM, AROMA, ARENA or APART repeats a letter with other letters in between, so it never looks like a “double-letter word” at a glance. There are 217 of these among the answers, on top of the 173 obvious ones. When two of your tiles refuse to resolve, a split repeat of a letter you have already found is often the missing pattern.
Which letters repeat without sitting side by side
For the 217 split repeats, the repeated letter is far more often E than anything else. The counts, from the answer list, are E 65, A 31, T 24, R 17, C 15 and I 13. If you are one tile short and E is already green or yellow, a second E is the first thing to test.
How to use it
Early on, do the opposite: your first one or two guesses should use five different letters so each square tests a new letter and you learn the most per guess. Save the doubles for when the clues point at one — a letter that keeps coming back green or yellow, or a shape that will not close with five distinct letters. At that point, run what you know through the Word Solver and let it surface the double-letter candidates you would otherwise overlook.
Keep exploring
- Word Solver — turn your clues into a shortlist
- 5-letter words with no repeated letters
- Common mistakes to avoid
- All Puzzico word lists
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