It seems that both things are true?
In[]:= Complement[wordleWords, my5LetterWords][[-10 ;;]]
Out[]= {"zulus", "zupan", "zupas", "zuppa", "zurfs", "zuzim", \
"zygal", "zygon", "zymes", "zymic"}
And, for example, "zygal" is a word):
zygal definition on Dictionary.com
"Having a shape like a yoke or like the letter H"
When it comes to "zulus", for example,
In[]:= DictionaryWordQ["Zulu"]
Out[]= True
It seems that the plural is not in the way that I retrieved the 5 letter words and that I'd need to be more careful in making sure that the various plurals are in my list (and making sure that I take care of capitalization as I do it):
In[]:= Pluralize["Zulu"]
Out[]= "Zulus"
So, I am the student that this exercise is intended for!