Words Without Vowels
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Whether a word “has no vowels” depends on what you count as a vowel. In the open ENABLE word list that Letterpile shows, 119 words have no A, E, I, O or U. Most of those use Y as their vowel, like RHYTHM and CRYPT. Only 20 words have no A, E, I, O, U or Y, and almost all of them are sounds rather than ordinary words. Both lists are below. Words come from the open ENABLE word list. Different games use different dictionaries, so always check the rules of your game.
Words with no A, E, I, O, U or Y
These 20 words are the strictest case. Related forms (such as plurals) are shown with their base word.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
BRR | a sound made when you feel cold (also brrr) |
BRRR | a longer form of brr |
CRWTH | an old Celtic stringed instrument played with a bow |
CRWTHS | a form of CRWTH |
CWM | a bowl-shaped hollow at the head of a mountain valley (a cirque) |
CWMS | a form of CWM |
HM | a sound of thinking or doubt |
HMM | a longer form of hm |
MM | a sound of agreement or enjoyment |
NTH | to the nth degree: the last in a series, or extremely |
PFFT | a sound of dismissal |
PHPHT | a sound of annoyance (also pht) |
PHT | a sound of annoyance |
PSST | a sound used to get someone's attention quietly |
SH | a sound asking for quiet |
SHH | a longer form of sh |
TSK | a clicking sound of disapproval; also a verb meaning to make that sound |
TSKS | a form of TSK |
TSKTSK | a doubled form of tsk |
TSKTSKS | a form of TSK |
Two groups stand out. Most of the list is interjections, written-down sounds such as HMM, SHH and PSST. The others, CRWTH, CRWTHS, CWM and CWMS, come from Welsh, where W is used as a vowel. NTH is a special case: it comes from the mathematical use of n for “any number”.
When Y is the vowel
Y works as a vowel in many words, either on its own (GYM, MYTH) or at the end (SKY, FLY). There are 99 words in the list with Y but no A, E, I, O or U. The longest are GLYCYLS and RHYTHMS, at 7 letters.
| Length | Words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | BY and MY |
| 3 | 21 | BYS, CRY, DRY and FLY |
| 4 | 21 | BYRL, CYST, DRYS and GYMS |
| 5 | 34 | BYRLS, CRYPT, CYSTS and DRYLY |
| 6 | 19 | CRYPTS, FLYBYS, FLYSCH and GHYLLS |
| 7 | 2 | GLYCYLS and RHYTHMS |
All Y-only words up to four letters
Short words matter most in tile games. These 44 words of four letters or fewer use Y as their only vowel:
by byrl bys cry cyst dry drys fly fry gym gyms hymn hyp hyps lynx my myth ply pry pyx rynd scry shy sky sly spry spy sty syn sync syph thy try typp typy why whys wry wych wyn wynd wynn wyns xyst
Letters in Y-only words
Which consonants do the Y-only words lean on? Counting how many of the 99 words contain each letter:
| Letter | Words containing it |
|---|---|
| S | 57 |
| H | 39 |
| L | 28 |
| P | 28 |
| R | 24 |
| T | 23 |
| N | 21 |
| M | 19 |
Letters that cluster easily with Y, such as the R and L of CRY and FLY, and the H and P of Greek-derived spellings like LYMPH, are especially common.
How the counts were made
Every number on this page comes from the ENABLE word list as shown on Letterpile, with hidden vulgar words left out, and is recalculated each time the site is built. “Vowel” means the letters A, E, I, O and U; Y is counted separately. A word only needs to lack those letters to be listed, whatever its pronunciation.
Why these words exist
English spelling usually needs a vowel letter in each syllable, so vowelless words come from a few special sources:
- Interjections try to spell a sound that isn't really a syllable, such as a hiss or a hum. Writers have settled on spellings like
SHHandHMM, and dictionaries record the common ones. - Welsh borrowings keep Welsh spelling, where W and Y can be vowels.
- Y as a vowel is old and regular in English spelling, especially in words from Greek (
RHYTHM,MYTH,LYNX).
Interjections in word lists
Interjections are an unusual corner of any word list. They are words that mostly appear in dialogue and comics, they are spelled however writers choose to spell a sound, and dictionaries only record the spellings that became common. That is why a list may include HMM but not a longer “hmmm”, and why different games accept different sets of them.
Using them in games
A rack with no vowels is hard to play. Knowing a few vowelless words gives you an option other than swapping tiles. The interjections are the most useful, because they are short and use common consonants. Check that your game's dictionary accepts them, because interjections are exactly the kind of word that differs between lists. The Word Unscrambler will show any vowelless words in your letters, and the rack balance guide explains how to avoid getting stuck in the first place.