3-Letter Words Starting With Y
There are 27 three-letter words starting with Y in our dictionary; 20 of them are common words.
Type your own letters to find only the 3-letter words you can make, or leave it empty to open this list in the word finder.
All 27 words
- yes6 points
- yet6 points
- you6 points
- yak10 points
- yew9 points
- yam8 points
- yap8 points
- yen6 points
- yep8 points
- yum8 points
- yuk10 points
- yaw9 points
- yip8 points
- yup8 points
- yea6 points
- yon6 points
- yob8 points
- yid7 points
- yin6 points
- yow9 points
- yah9 points
- yod7 points
- yok10 points
- yay9 points
- yeh9 points
- yom8 points
- yar6 points
Quick facts
- Total words: 27
- By usage: 8 very common, 12 common, 7 rare
Highest scoring (classic tiles)
- yak 10
- yok 10
- yuk 10
- yah 9
- yaw 9
- yay 9
- yeh 9
- yew 9
- yow 9
- yam 8
Most common
- yes
- yet
- you
- yak
- yew
- yam
- yap
- yen
- yep
- yum
Definitions
- yes (noun)
- An affirmative.
- yet (adverb)
- Up to the present time.
- yak (noun)
- Noisy talk.
- yew (noun)
- Wood of a yew; especially the durable fine-grained light brown or red wood of the English yew valued for cabinetwork and archery bows.
The three-letter words that start with Y number 27 in our dictionary. About 20 of them are common, which is the group most players will recognise on sight, and the remainder are rarer words that still count in the majority of games. The list is complete, computed from the full word list rather than typed by hand, so you can trust that nothing is missing. The best scorer is YAK, at 10 points.
How to use this page
To use this page, start with the search box. Type the letters on your rack, add a question mark for each blank, and press search. The tool keeps this page's constraint and returns only the words you can spell. Below the box, the full list is arranged with common words first, followed by the quick facts, definitions and related lists.
Tips
The list puts common words first for a reason: they are the ones an opponent is least likely to challenge and the ones you will remember next time. When two plays score about the same, prefer the common word. Save the rare entries for situations where they are clearly better, such as a triple-word square that only an obscure word can reach. If you are learning vocabulary or solving a puzzle for a newspaper, stick to the very common words marked with a dot; they are the ones the setter almost certainly had in mind.
Questions
What is the highest-scoring word among the three-letter words starting with Y?
YAK scores 10 points with classic tile values, ignoring board multipliers. The full top ten is in the quick facts above; switch the tile set on the search tool if you play with different letter values.
Why are some of these words unfamiliar?
7 of the 27 words on this page are tagged rare, meaning they fall outside the usual spell-check vocabulary. They are still real words, and many are legal plays, but you should expect a challenge if someone asks you to define them.