5-Letter Words Starting With ZA

There are 8 five-letter words starting with ZA, and 1 of them are words you would expect to see in everyday writing. The rest are technical terms, plurals, variant spellings and the odd loanword, all of which are legal in most tile games. The highest-scoring entry is ZANZA at 23 points. Scan the common words first, then dip into the rare ones when the board leaves you no other option.

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 five-letter words starting with ZA?

ZANZA scores 23 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 8 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.