5-Letter Words Starting With I and Ending in O

Words that start with I and end in O come up constantly in tile games, crosswords and daily letter puzzles, and this page gathers all 6 of the five-letter ones. The most useful are the common words at the top of the list; the rare ones at the bottom are worth knowing when you need to hook onto an awkward board position. IROKO is the top scorer here, worth 9 points before any board multiplier.

How to use this page

Start by scanning the common words at the top; they are the ones most likely to be accepted and remembered. Then check the quick facts for the highest-scoring options. If you have a rack in front of you, the search box applies this page's constraint to your letters and returns only what you can play.

Tips

Most of the time you are not building a word in empty space but playing through a letter already on the board. That is where a list like this one earns its keep. Find the letter you need to play through, then filter these words with the contains box so only the ones with that letter remain. The best plays are usually the ones where the board letter sits in the middle of your word, because that leaves both ends free for future hooks and keeps the premium squares within reach.

Questions

How many five-letter words starting with I and ending in O are there?

Our dictionary has 6 five-letter words starting with I and ending in O, of which 2 are common English words. The count comes from the public-domain ENABLE list, so it can differ slightly from the dictionary a particular game uses.

What is the highest-scoring word among the five-letter words starting with I and ending in O?

IROKO scores 9 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.