5-Letter Words That Start With DE | Full List & Game Tips
5-letter words that start with DE can help you improve at word games and expand your vocabulary. Some common options are “decor,” “delay,” and “demon,” while more advanced words include “debar,” “denar,” and “demur.”
This article includes a list of 42 5-letter words starting with DE, plus ideas for Scrabble and Words With Friends (WWF) and Wordle tips. If you’re here to broaden your vocabulary, you can also find a section about advanced 5-letter words that start with DE and their meanings.
If you’d like a more focused list of 5-letter words that start with DE (e.g., 5-letter nature words starting with DE), ask Quillbot’s AI Chat.
Key takeaways
- Discover 42 valid 5-letter words that start with DE, all of which can be used in Scrabble, Words With Friends, and as Wordle guesses, from common words like “delay” and “decor” to less familiar options like “demur” and “denar.”
- Improve your word game strategy with recommended DE starting words for Wordle and a list of the highest-scoring options for Scrabble and Words With Friends.
- Find words faster with a handy table that organizes every DE word by its ending letter, making it easier to solve game-specific letter patterns.
- Expand your vocabulary by learning the meanings and examples of advanced DE words you may not encounter in everyday English.
Table of contents
- 5-letter words that start with DE: Long list of 42 words
- Best 5-letter words that start with DE for Wordle
- Best 5-letter words that start with DE for Scrabble and WWF
- 5-letter words that start with DE by ending letter
- Advanced 5-letter words that start with DE and meanings
- Frequently asked questions about 5-letter words that start with DE
- Other interesting articles
5-letter words that start with DE: Long list of 42 words
Below is a long list of 5-letter words that start with DE. These 42 words are all valid Scrabble and WWF words and Wordle guesses. Many of those words use the prefix “de-”, which means “stop” or “remove.” For example, “deice” means “to remove ice,” “derat” means “to remove rats,” and “debar” means “to stop someone from doing something.”
- Dealt
- Death
- Debar
- Debit
- Debug
- Debut
- Decaf
- Decal
- Decay
- Decor
- Decoy
- Decry
- Defer
- Defog
- Deice
- Deify
- Deign
- Deism
- Deist
- Deity
- Degum
- Dekar
- Delay
- Delta
- Delve
- Demit
- Demon
- Demur
- Denar
- Denim
- Dense
- Depot
- Depth
- Derat
- Derby
- Derma
- Desex
- Deter
- Detox
- Deuce
- Dewax
- Devil
- Plural nouns ending in “-s” (e.g., “deeds”)
- Conjugated regular verbs that end in “-s” or “-ed” (e.g., “deals”)
- Slang words (e.g., “debag”)
- Abbreviations of other words (e.g., “deffo” from “definitely”)
- Proper nouns (e.g., “Decca”)
- Specialized technical terms (e.g., “debye”)
For words that start with D that fall into one of these categories, ask Quillbot’s AI Chat.
Best 5-letter words that start with DE for Wordle
Playing Wordle? These are the best 5-letter words that start with DE to use as your starting words. The letter E is one of the most common letters in Wordle solutions. While the letter D isn’t quite as popular in Wordle solutions, it’s still one of the most commonly used letters in the English language.
| Word | Vowels | Why it’s a strong Wordle starter |
|---|---|---|
| DEALT | A, E | Covers two of the most common vowels and three high-frequency consonants (D, L, T), with no repeated letters |
| DELTA | A, E | Uses the same high-value letters as DEALT but in different positions, helping test multiple letter placements |
| DEPOT | E, O | Tests two common vowels along with T and introduces P, another relatively frequent consonant |
| DELAY | A, E | Covers common letters while also testing Y in the final position, where it often appears in Wordle answers |
| DEBUT | E, U | Includes the less common vowel U while still covering common vowel E and common consonants D and T |
| DENIM | E, I | Tests two common vowels and introduces N, one of the most frequent consonants in Wordle solutions |
Best 5-letter words that start with DE for Scrabble and WWF
These 5-letter words starting with DE can raise your Scrabble or WWF score thanks to high-value letters like W, X, and Y. Scrabble has four D tiles and WWF has five, and in both games, D is worth two points. E is worth one point in each game; in Scrabble there are 12 E tiles and in WWF, 13.
This table highlights the highest-scoring words from the above list for both games, ordered primarily by Scrabble score and then by WWF score. These scores don’t include any double or triple letter or word booster tiles.
| Word | Scrabble points | WWF points |
|---|---|---|
| Dewax | 16 | 16 |
| Detox | 13 | 13 |
| Deify | 12 | 11 |
| Decaf | 11 | 12 |
| Decoy | 11 | 11 |
| Decry | 11 | 11 |
| Derby | 11 | 11 |
| Debug | 9 | 12 |
| Devil | 9 | 11 |
| Debut | 8 | 10 |
| Demur | 8 | 10 |
5-letter words that start with DE by ending letter
If you’re looking for 5-letter words that start with DE and end with a specific letter, check out the table below.
| Ends with | Words |
|---|---|
| A | Delta, derma |
| E | Deice, Dense, Deuce, Delve |
| F | Decaf |
| G | Debug, defog |
| H | Death, depth |
| L | Decal, devil |
| M | Deism, degum, denim |
| N | Deign, demon |
| R | Debar, decor, defer, demur, denar, deter, dekar |
| T | Dealt, debit, debut, deist, demit, depot, derat |
| X | Desex, detox, dewax |
| Y | Decay, decoy, decry, deify, deity, delay, derby |
Advanced 5-letter words that start with DE and meanings
Were there words in the list above that you didn’t recognize? Some of the 5-letter words starting with DE aren’t so common, so get to know them and their definitions.
| Word | Part of speech | Definition | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debar | Verb | To prevent or prohibit someone from doing or having something | The player was debarred from the tournament after violating the rules. |
| Decry | Verb | To publicly criticize or condemn something | Environmental groups decried the decision to expand the landfill. |
| Deism | Noun | The belief that a creator exists but does not intervene in the universe after creating it | Deism became influential among some Enlightenment thinkers. |
| Deist | Noun; adjective | Someone who believes in deism; relating to or characterized by deism | As a deist, he believed that reason, rather than revelation, revealed the existence of God. |
| Dekar | Noun | A metric unit of area equal to 10 ares or 0.2471 acre (variant spelling of “decare”) | The farmer measured the field as five dekars before planting crops. |
| Demit | Verb | To resign from or relinquish an office, position, or membership | She has decided to demit her role as chairperson at the end of the year. |
| Demur | Verb; noun | To object, hesitate, or disagree; an objection or protest (not be confused with the adjective “demure”) | She demurred when asked to lead the project, saying she needed more time to consider it. |
| Denar | Noun | The official currency of North Macedonia | One euro equals approximately 61 denars. |
| Desex | Verb | To sterilize an animal by surgically removing or altering its reproductive organs | The veterinarian recommended that the owners desex their puppy. |
| Dewax | Verb | To remove wax from a substance or surface | The technician needed to dewax the sample before analyzing it. |
Frequently asked questions about 5-letter words that start with DE
- What are some 5-letter words that start with DE and end with E?
-
The commonly used 5-letter words that start with DE and end with E are:
- Deice
- Dense
- Deuce
- Delve
There are also some rare or archaic 5-letter words that start with DE and end with E (e.g., “deave”) and some proper nouns that follow the pattern (e.g., “Debre”). For a list of words like this, ask Quillbot’s AI Chat.
- What are some 5-letter words that start with DE and end with T?
-
These are the 5-letter words that start with DE and end with T that are used in modern English:
- Dealt
- Debut
- Defat
- Deist
- Demit
- Depot
For lists of archaic 5-letter words that start with DE and end with T (e.g., “dempt”) or abbreviations and slang words (e.g., “decat”), ask Quillbot’s AI Chat.
Other interesting articles
If you want to know more about colors, letters, or the meaning of emojis, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
