The numerical treatment of partial differential equations with particle methods and meshfree discretization techniques is an extremely active research field, both in the mathematics and engineering communities. Meshfree methods are becoming increasingly mainstream in various applications. Due to their independence of a mesh, particle schemes and meshfree methods can deal with large geometric changes of the domain more easily than classical discretization techniques. Furthermore, meshfree methods offer a promising approach for the coupling of particle models to continuous models. This volume of LNCSE is a collection of the papers from the proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Meshfree Methods, held in Bonn in August 2009. The articles address the different meshfree methods and their use in applied mathematics, physics and engineering. The volume is intended to foster this highly active and exciting area of interdisciplinary research and to present recent advances and findings in this field.