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8 Letter Words Starting With Y

There are 214 valid 8 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 8-Letter Words

US Scrabble (NWL)

yahrzeit - 23 points

UK Scrabble (CSW)

yahrzeit - 23 points

Words With Friends

yabbying - 21 points

8 Letter Words (214)

View all words starting with Y

Top 20 Highest-Scoring 8 Letter Words Starting With y

Point values shown for US Scrabble, UK Scrabble, and Words With Friends. The average across this full 214 word list is 51.7 combined points.

Rank Word US Scrabble UK Scrabble WWF Points Total
#1 yabbered 16 16 17 49
#2 yabbying 19 19 21 59
#3 yachtdom 19 19 19 57
#4 yachters 16 16 15 47
#5 yachties 16 16 15 47
#6 yachting 17 17 18 52
#7 yachtist 16 16 15 47
#8 yachtman 18 18 19 55
#9 yachtmen 18 18 19 55
#10 yaghourt 15 15 15 45
#11 yahganan 15 15 16 46
#12 yahoodom 17 17 16 50
#13 yahooish 17 17 14 48
#14 yahooism 16 16 15 47
🏆 #15 yahrzeit 23 23 21 67
#16 yahuskin 18 18 18 54
#17 yajenine 18 18 21 57
#18 yakhdans 19 19 18 56
#19 yakimono 17 17 18 52
#20 yakitori 15 15 14 44

Where 8 Letter Words Fit on the Board

At 8 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 8 letter words starting with Y for a more practical middle ground.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the highest-scoring 8 letter word starting with y?

yahrzeit — worth 67 combined points (US Scrabble: 23, UK Scrabble: 23, Words With Friends: 21).

How many 8 letter words start with y?

214 valid words, combining entries from NWL2023, CSW24, and the Words With Friends dictionary.

Are 8 letter words realistic to actually play?

Only occasionally — you'd need most of your rack plus letters already on the board to reach 8 tiles. They're worth knowing for the rare bingo-extension play, but for regular turns, shorter y words will come up far more often.