5-letter words with I and L
957 words are exactly five letters long and contain both I and L, in any order and any position. That is 6.4% of every five-letter word.
What you know
Two letters confirmed, no positions confirmed. This is the classic two-yellow-tile board.
For example: aalii, dinlo, idols, limit, nivel, slaid.
All 5-letter words with I and L
600 of 957 shownShowing the first 600 alphabetically. Add a position clue with 5-letter words starting with I to cut the list properly.
Playing a two-letter clue
At 957 words this is one of the larger pairs on the site, ranked 34 of 323. Treat it as a starting pool, not a shortlist, and bring a third clue before you commit a guess. 71% of them place the two letters side by side, so IL or LI is worth assuming until something rules it out.
One of these is a vowel and one is a consonant, which is the most informative kind of pair to hold. The vowel tells you roughly where the syllable core sits and the consonant tells you which shapes are still possible around it.
The habit worth building is to stop hunting for the answer and start hunting for the guess that splits this list fastest. With 957 candidates in play, a word that tests three untried letters is nearly always better than a word that merely fits everything you already know. Once one of I or L turns green, drop this page and use the position lists instead: I in the middle, ending in L, or starting with I.
Quick answers
How many 5-letter words have both I and L?
957 of them, out of 14,858 five-letter words, which is about 6.4% of the length. At 957 words this is one of the larger pairs on the site, ranked 34 of 323. Treat it as a starting pool, not a shortlist, and bring a third clue before you commit a guess.
Does the order of I and L matter here?
No. This list takes any five-letter word that contains both letters, wherever they fall, so I may come before or after L. 71% of them place the two letters side by side, so IL or LI is worth assuming until something rules it out.
How do I use this list in Wordle?
Two yellow tiles is exactly this situation: both letters belong, neither is where you put it. Work down the list and pick a word that moves both letters to new slots while also testing letters you have not tried. Repeating a letter in a slot you already know is wrong wastes a whole guess.
Which letters do these words usually start with?
The most common opening letters here are L (188), S (88), P (66). One of these is a vowel and one is a consonant, which is the most informative kind of pair to hold. The vowel tells you roughly where the syllable core sits and the consonant tells you which shapes are still possible around it.
Can I narrow this further?
Yes. If you know where one of the letters sits, switch to 5-letter words starting with I, 5-letter words ending in L, or 5-letter words with I in the middle. A fixed position cuts far harder than a second loose letter.
Swap the second letter
Keep I, pair it with something else.
Swap the first letter
Keep L, pair it with something else.
Related tools
Out of guesses? Grab today's Wordle hints and answer, spoiler-safe until you tap.