5 Letter Words Starting With AB
There are 89 valid 5 letter words that start with AB, drawn from NWL2023, CSW24, and Words With Friends. Sorted below by score, with the single highest scorer called out.
Highest Scoring 5-Letter Words
US Scrabble (NWL)
abaze - 16 points
UK Scrabble (CSW)
abaze - 16 points
Words With Friends
abaze - 17 points
5 Letter Words (89)
View all words starting with ABTop 20 Highest-Scoring 5 Letter Words Starting With ab
Point values shown for US Scrabble, UK Scrabble, and Words With Friends. The average across this full 89 word list is 31.0 combined points.
| Rank | Word | US Scrabble | UK Scrabble | WWF Points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | abaca | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
| #2 | abaci | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
| #3 | aback | 13 | 13 | 15 | 41 |
| #4 | abacs | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
| #5 | abada | 8 | 8 | 9 | 25 |
| #6 | abaff | 13 | 13 | 14 | 40 |
| #7 | abaft | 10 | 10 | 11 | 31 |
| #8 | abaka | 11 | 11 | 12 | 34 |
| #9 | abama | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
| #10 | abamp | 11 | 11 | 14 | 36 |
| #11 | aband | 8 | 8 | 10 | 26 |
| #12 | abase | 7 | 7 | 8 | 22 |
| #13 | abash | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| #14 | abask | 11 | 11 | 12 | 34 |
| #15 | abate | 7 | 7 | 8 | 22 |
| #16 | abaue | 7 | 7 | 9 | 23 |
| #17 | abave | 10 | 10 | 12 | 32 |
| #18 | abaya | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| 🏆 #19 | abaze | 16 | 16 | 17 | 49 |
| #20 | abbas | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
Where 5 Letter Words Fit on the Board
At 5 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 AB will give you far more flexible options try 5 letter words starting with AB for a more practical middle ground.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the highest-scoring 5 letter word starting with ab?
abaze — worth 49 combined points (US Scrabble: 16, UK Scrabble: 16, Words With Friends: 17).
How many 5 letter words start with ab?
89 valid words, combining entries from NWL2023, CSW24, and the Words With Friends dictionary.
Are 5 letter words realistic to actually play?
Only occasionally — you'd need most of your rack plus letters already on the board to reach 5 tiles. They're worth knowing for the rare bingo-extension play, but for regular turns, shorter ab words will come up far more often.