5-letter words with C as the 2nd letter and O as the 3rd letter

The pattern ?CO?? is dominated by one opening letter: S starts 21 of the 26 words, and A, I and Y share the rest. Eleven have been Wordle answers, which makes the pattern worth studying when your guesses show a C in second place and an O in third. The first square then decides almost everything.

?CO?? by the numbers

• 26 words match; Collins accepts all 26, NWL2023 accepts 19 and ENABLE 18.
• S opens 21; ACORN, ACOCK and ACOLD open with A, ICONS with I and YCOND with Y.
• Wordle answers: SCORE, SCOPE, SCOUT, SCOOP, SCORN, ACORN, SCOUR, SCOLD, SCOFF, SCONE and SCOWL.
• 7 words are common, and the average Scrabble score is 8.8.
• SCOFF and ACOCK lead at 13 points.

How do the S words split?

SCORE, SCORN and SCOUR show the three most common third-position partners. SCOPE and SCOOP share SCO-P, and SCOLD, SCOFF, SCONE and SCOWL cover the remaining Wordle answers.

Last letters spread evenly: S ends 5 words, D, E and P end 3 each, and G, N and T end the remainder.

The C and O are fixed, so the guess that helps most is one that tests the first and last squares. An S in first place settles 21 of the 26 words, about 81 percent, and a second guess on the ending finishes the job.

Which words are risky?

ACOCK, ACOLD and YCOND are the weakest of the set, and SCOWP, SCODY and SCOOG are rarer still. Collins accepts all 26, while NWL2023 accepts 19 and ENABLE 18, so check your game's word list before playing any of them.

Seven of the 26 are common words, so a normal game will almost always call for those. The average score of 8.8 is modest, because the C is the only tile above 1 in most of them; SCOFF and ACOCK break away with a double F or K.