At a glance

Most common: PIANO, ORGAN, VIOLA. Rarest: SHAWM, REBEC, TABLA. 11 have been a Wordle answer (PIANO, ORGAN, VIOLA, FLUTE, CELLO, BANJO…).

Five-letter musical instruments (16)

WordRarityWordle
PIANOUncommon#885
ORGANUncommon#1082
VIOLARare#840
FLUTERare#1632
CELLOEpic#1696
BANJOEpic#1504
CHIMEEpic#839
BUGLEEpic#1100
BONGOEpic#1425
TABORLegendary—
SITARLegendary#1659
KAZOOLegendary#730
GAMBALegendary—
TABLAMythic—
REBECMythic—
SHAWMMythic—

Four-letter musical instruments (15)

BELL, PIPE, HORN, DRUM, GONG, HARP, FIFE, LUTE, TUBA, OBOE, LYRE, KOTO, VIOL, ZILL, ERHU

Three-letter musical instruments (1)

UKE

Questions

What is the most common five-letter musical instrument?

PIANO, followed by ORGAN and VIOLA, by how often they appear in written English.

What is the rarest five-letter musical instrument?

SHAWM is the rarest on this list, then REBEC and TABLA. In Wordillion a word that rare scores Mythic.

Which five-letter musical instruments have been Wordle answers?

PIANO (#885), ORGAN (#1082), VIOLA (#840), FLUTE (#1632), CELLO (#1696), BANJO (#1504), CHIME (#839), BUGLE (#1100), BONGO (#1425), SITAR (#1659), KAZOO (#730).

Rarity is how often a word appears in a large sample of written English (the wordfreq dataset), the same measure Wordillion scores with. “Wordle” shows the puzzle number if the word has been a New York Times Wordle answer, or “possible answer” if it is on the answer list but has not come up yet.