5-letter words with E as the 2nd letter and S as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is _E_S_: the first, third, and fifth letters stay open, so LEAST, SENSE, and BEAST fit for different reasons. Tournament dictionaries contain 69 matches, yet only 18 count as common English words. That split matters in a puzzle: familiar choices are a small slice, while the full game pool also includes less everyday forms such as GEIST and PEASE.

The pattern at a glance

• Exactly 69 tournament-dictionary words match _E_S_, with E fixed second and S fixed fourth.
• Only 18 matches count as common English words; LEAST, SENSE, and BEAST are familiar options.
• All 18 matching Wordle answers appear in tournament dictionaries, alongside 69 allowed guesses.
• Collins lists 67 matches, NWL2023 lists 46, and ENABLE lists 43; those dictionary sets overlap.
• JESSE leads the listed Scrabble scores at 12 points; WELSH and YEESH each score 11.

5-letter words with E second and S fourth

The final letter narrows the search quickly: 34 matches end in E, and 17 end in T. LEASE, CEASE, and VERSE fit the first group; BEAST, FEAST, and HEIST fit the second. If your clue confirms the last tile, start with the larger E-ending group, then check the remaining letters against your board.

The first letter is less decisive. M and S tie as the most common starts, with seven words each; L follows with six.

MESSY and SENSE show how different openings can share the same inner pattern, while LEASE gives you the common E ending. Don’t assume the two fixed letters determine the whole word.

For Wordle, the 18 answer matches are a tighter pool than the 69 allowed guesses. The full pattern includes less familiar entries such as GEIST and PEASE, so a tournament-valid word is not automatically a sensible answer guess. JESSE’s 12-point Scrabble score tops this group, but score alone does not make it a likely solution.