4 Letter Words Starting With Y
There are 175 valid 4 letter words that start with Y, drawn from NWL2023, CSW24, and Words With Friends. Sorted below by score, with the single highest scorer called out.
Highest Scoring 4-Letter Words
US Scrabble (NWL)
yaje - 14 points
UK Scrabble (CSW)
yaje - 14 points
Words With Friends
yaje - 15 points
4 Letter Words (175)
View all words starting with YTop 20 Highest-Scoring 4 Letter Words Starting With y
Point values shown for US Scrabble, UK Scrabble, and Words With Friends. The average across this full 175 word list is 27.6 combined points.
| Rank | Word | US Scrabble | UK Scrabble | WWF Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | yaar | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| #2 | yaba | 9 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
| #3 | yabu | 9 | 9 | 10 | 28 |
| #4 | yack | 13 | 13 | 13 | 39 |
| #5 | yade | 8 | 8 | 7 | 23 |
| #6 | yads | 8 | 8 | 7 | 23 |
| #7 | yaff | 13 | 13 | 12 | 38 |
| #8 | yage | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| #9 | yagi | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| #10 | yags | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| #11 | yahs | 10 | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| #12 | yair | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 |
| 🏆 #13 | yaje | 14 | 14 | 15 | 43 |
| #14 | yaka | 11 | 11 | 10 | 32 |
| #15 | yaks | 11 | 11 | 10 | 32 |
| #16 | yalb | 9 | 9 | 10 | 28 |
| #17 | yald | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| #18 | yale | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| #19 | yali | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 |
| #20 | yamp | 11 | 11 | 12 | 34 |
Where 4 Letter Words Fit on the Board
At 4 letters, a word almost always uses your entire rack plus tiles already on the board these are realistically bingo-adjacent plays rather than everyday moves, which is why the list leans heavily on compound and suffixed forms (-nesses, -ation, -izing). If you're looking for words you can play more often, shorter lengths starting with Y will give you far more flexible options try 4 letter words starting with Y for a more practical middle ground.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the highest-scoring 4 letter word starting with y?
yaje — worth 43 combined points (US Scrabble: 14, UK Scrabble: 14, Words With Friends: 15).
How many 4 letter words start with y?
175 valid words, combining entries from NWL2023, CSW24, and the Words With Friends dictionary.
Are 4 letter words realistic to actually play?
Only occasionally — you'd need most of your rack plus letters already on the board to reach 4 tiles. They're worth knowing for the rare bingo-extension play, but for regular turns, shorter y words will come up far more often.