Words Without Vowels: The Complete List
A rack full of consonants feels hopeless, but it doesn't have to be. There are 121 playable words with no A, E, I, O or U. Knowing a handful of them can turn a stuck turn into points.
Words with no vowels at all
These 20 words have no vowels and no Y. Most are sounds, like a shiver (BRR) or a call for quiet (SH, PSST):
Two are borrowed from Welsh, where W works as a vowel: a CWM is a bowl-shaped valley, and a CRWTH is an old stringed instrument. NTH means "the latest of many", as in "for the nth time".
Everyday words where Y is the vowel
Most vowel-free words lean on Y, which does the job of a vowel in words like these:
The highest-scoring vowel-free words
Scores below are Scrabble letter values before any bonus squares:
SYZYGY (an alignment of three bodies in space, such as the sun, earth and moon) needs three Ys. A standard Scrabble set has only two, so one must come from a blank tile.
When these words help
- A rack with no vowels. Before swapping tiles, check for SH, HM, MM, BRR, PSST, TSK or NTH. Even a small play keeps your turn.
- Too many Ys. Y counts as a vowel in many short words, so MY, BY, SPY, GYM, MYTH and RHYTHM are easy ways to use it.
- Tight spots. Two- and three-letter words like HM, SH and CWM squeeze in between other words where nothing else fits.
The complete list
All 121 words, shortest first:
To check your own letters, type them into the word unscrambler or the Scrabble word finder.