Let us be straight with you: this is the shortest page in our alphabet, because X is the rarest way to start an English word. The list above shows 304 words that start with X, and that is the complete, honest count from our dictionary, not a teaser. The good news is that a short list is a learnable list, and the X section repays study better than any other letter.
The two words that matter
Xi, a Greek letter, and xu, a Vietnamese coin, are the only two letter entries, and they are the highest value knowledge on this page. The X tile is worth eight points in both Scrabble and Words With Friends, so xi or xu dropped on a double or triple letter square regularly outscores long, laborious plays. Committing these two to memory is the single cheapest upgrade available to a casual player.
A list you can actually finish
Depth here is measured in single words. Xis, the plural of xi, is the lone three letter entry, and xyst, a covered walkway in ancient Greece, stands alone at four letters. Five letters is where the list finally opens up: 15 entries, including xebec, a three masted sailing ship, xenon, xylem, and xerox at 19 points. The obscure xylyl pays 18. From there the family climbs through xylophones and ends at xeroradiographies, seventeen letters long.
The real X strategy
Most X points are scored in the middle or at the end of a word, not the front. The dictionary holds 6,774 words containing X, which dwarfs the group that starts with it. So when the X tile hits your rack, think ax, ex, ox, box, and next before hunting anything on this page, and let the word finder check your remaining letters against all of them at once.
Every count above is computed from the dictionary file at build time. The dictionary page documents the source list, its public domain license, and the per letter numbers behind this whole site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does this list have so few words?
Because English genuinely has few of them. The 304 entries here are the complete set in YAWL, our open source lexicon, not a truncated preview. Nearly all of them are borrowed from Greek, where x began words like xenon and xylem. Sites that show longer X lists usually pad them with proper nouns or trademarks that no word game accepts. Our dictionary page explains the list we use and lets you verify the count.
What are the two letter X words?
Xi and xu. Xi is a letter of the Greek alphabet and xu is a Vietnamese coin. Each turns the eight point X tile into nine points on just two tiles, and hooked onto existing words on a premium square they routinely score far more. If you learn only two words from this page, learn these.
What are some describing words that start with X?
Adjectives are the thinnest part of an already thin letter, but they are here: xeric and xerothermic describe dry habitats, xanthic and xanthous mean yellowish, xenial describes warmth toward a guest, xenogeneic belongs to biology, and xenophobic needs no explanation. If you arrived looking for X names such as Xavier or Xiomara, this list will not have them. YAWL holds lowercase common words only, so proper nouns are excluded on purpose, and no word game accepts them either.
How do I play an X tile if nothing on my rack starts with X?
Play it inside or at the end of a word instead. The dictionary contains 6,774 words with an X somewhere in them, so the tile is far more flexible than this page alone suggests. Ax, ex, and ox take the X in back, and box, fix, and next bury it in everyday words. Type your rack into the word finder and it will surface every option.
Is xerox a legal word in Scrabble?
In lowercase, yes. YAWL lists xerox as a verb meaning to photocopy, along with xeroxed and xeroxes, because the trademark long ago slid into everyday use. On a board it pays 19 points from five tiles thanks to its two X letters, one of the better five letter plays in the game.