What is the highest-scoring 5-letter word starting with C?

CHIZZ scores 28 points, the highest of the 888 valid 5-letter words starting with C in the SOWPODS dictionary.

How many 5-letter words starting with C are there in Scrabble?

There are 888 valid 5-letter words starting with C in the SOWPODS (international) dictionary.

How many points is the letter C worth in Scrabble?

C is worth 3 points on a standard Scrabble tile.

5 Letter Words Starting with C

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July 30, 2026 7 min read Word Finder

There are 888 valid 5-letter words starting with C in the SOWPODS dictionary. C carries a modest 3-point value, and the highest-scoring option here is CHIZZ at 28 points. That's above average for 5-letter words starting with a letter — most letters in this slot manage around 713.

Why C at the Start Matters

💡 Tile Value

C's 3 points are a reasonable chunk of a 5-letter word's total score without being so rare that plays are hard to find.

Because you place the first letter, 5-letter words starting with C work well for parallel plays — starting a new word alongside one already on the board without touching it.

Notable Words

Highest scorer: CHIZZ is worth 28 points — C's 3 points plus the rest of the tiles in the word. It's the play to look for if you're building toward a big turn.

Worth memorising first: CHICK (16 points) is one of the lower scorers here, which usually means it's a more familiar word — a safer one to keep in your working vocabulary than the obscure high scorers.

How many options: 888 valid 5-letter words starting with C exist in SOWPODS — well above the ~713 typical for this slot, so this is a productive letter to search on.

Try This on the Board

🧩 Worked Example

Play CHIZZ through a Double Word Score square and it scores 56 points instead of 28 — worth chasing when you have the tiles and the board opens up that square.