5-letter words with A as the 2nd letter and B as the 3rd letter

The fixed pattern is _AB__, so the first and last letters do the sorting work. TABLE, CABLE, LABEL and CABIN show how familiar the middle can look, while ZABRA leads the scoring list. Only 13 matches fall among the most common English words, so a clean pattern match does not guarantee an everyday answer.

The _AB__ pattern at a glance

• 69 words match _AB__ in at least one tournament dictionary.
• TABLE, LABOR, CABLE, LABEL, HABIT and CABIN are familiar examples.
• 13 matches rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency.
• All 13 matching Wordle answers also appear in tournament dictionaries.

Which 5-letter words have A second and B third?

The pattern is _AB__; the matches begin most often with T (11), S (10) or C (9). T and S together start 21 words, while B starts 7 and L starts 6. Try TABLE, SABER, CABLE or CABIN when your known letters leave those positions open.

The final letter narrows the choices: 15 matches end in S, followed by 11 ending in A and 8 in E. If S is ruled out, A and E are the next largest ending groups. The A-B combination has 69 matches, far fewer than the 297 words with A second and R third.

Scoring and dictionary limits for the _AB__ pattern

ZABRA tops the scoring list at 16 points; YABBY follows at 15, with CABBY and JABOT at 14. The average score is 9, so the unusual high scorer stands well above the group. Use a premium square to build on a strong tile score, but check your game's word list before playing an uncommon entry.

The combined list is not identical across games: Collins includes 68 matches, NWL2023 includes 57 and ENABLE includes 53. A word accepted in one dictionary may not be accepted in another, so the combined count is not a promise of tournament legality in every game.