5 Letter Words That Start With Q

73 words in this list, every one checked against the YAWL dictionary.

Use these letters in the Word Finder to unscramble them into new words.

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5 Letter Words 73

Which of these words score the most in Scrabble?

The highest scoring words from this list, ranked by Scrabble letter values.

Browse Words by First Letter

Word Finders by Length

Holding a rack rather than browsing? Most games are won at four, six, and seven tiles, so start with the 4 Letter Word Finder, the 6 Letter Word Finder, or the 7 Letter Word Finder, then pick any other length below.

This page lists every one of the 73 five letter words that start with Q, a compact group with an outsized value in any tile game. Type the letters you hold into the filter above and the list narrows instantly to the plays that fit your rack or your puzzle, and sort by score or alphabet whenever it helps.

Almost all QU words

Nearly every word here follows the Q with a U, which makes the list simple to scan and easy to remember. The QUA group gives QUACK, QUAIL, QUAKE, QUALM, QUART, and QUASH. The QUE group brings QUEEN, QUELL, QUERY, QUEST, and QUEUE, and the QUI group QUICK, QUIET, QUILL, QUILT, QUIRK, and QUITE. A few QUO words, QUOTA and QUOTE, round the everyday list out. The rare Q words that need no U, like QOPHS, are the exception worth knowing for a tile game.

A Q opener Wordle set

For daily puzzle players a word starting with Q is uncommon, so a single guess narrows the field fast. QUIET, QUICK, and QUEEN each place common letters in helpful spots, and answers such as QUAKE, QUART, QUASH, QUELL, QUERY, QUEST, QUILT, QUIRK, and QUOTE are the other picks most likely to come up. Enter the letters you have confirmed and rule out the ones you have missed, and this list plus the filter collapses the field to a short set.

Scoring the best five letter words that start with Q

The opening Q is worth ten points, the joint highest in the game, so every word on this list starts far ahead of most. QUAKY leads the board at 21 points on its Q, K, and Y, and QUACK, QUAFF, QUICK, and QUIFF all reach 20. QOPHS makes 19. When a bonus square sits under the first tile, the ten point Q alone can turn a short word into one of the biggest plays of the game.

How the count is made

Every figure on this page is recomputed from one pinned dictionary on each build, never written in by hand, and the list is a direct slice of that same file. That is why the count in the heading, the numbers in the copy, and the results from the filter can never disagree. If the total looks different from another site, this is the honest YAWL figure, and the dictionary page sets out the source list and its license. When you would rather rearrange a whole rack than browse by letter, send your letters to the five letter word finder.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many five letter words start with Q?
There are 73 five letter words that start with Q in this list, out of 12,036 five letter words in YAWL overall. Nearly all of them follow the Q with a U, which makes this a tidy, recognizable set. Every count here is generated from the dictionary at build time, so it always matches what the filter finds.
What five letter words starting with Q are good Wordle openers?
QUIET, QUICK, and QUEEN are useful Q openers, because they place common letters like U, I, E, T, C, K, and N. If you have already found a green or yellow Q, filter this list by your other placed letters to see only the words that still fit.
Which five letter word starting with Q scores the most in Scrabble?
QUAKY leads at 21 points on its Q, K, and Y, and QUACK, QUAFF, QUICK, and QUIFF all reach 20. QOPHS, one of the rare Q words that needs no U, makes 19. The opening Q is worth ten points, the joint highest in the game, so every word here starts far ahead of most.
Why is a word I expected not on this list?
These pages are built from YAWL, a public domain list made for word games, which leaves out proper nouns, abbreviations, and hyphenated forms. Names starting with Q will not appear as a result. The [dictionary page](/dictionary/) publishes the exact list, its license, and its full counts so you can check any word against the source.