5-letter words with H as the 2nd letter and K as the 4th letter

Write the pattern as _H_K_: H is fixed in slot two and K in slot four, leaving the first, third, and fifth letters open. Only 12 tournament-dictionary words fit, and just 3 rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency. SHAKE, CHOKE, and KHAKI are recognizable starting points, while the full set also includes less familiar forms.

At a glance: what the pattern yields

• Exactly 12 tournament-dictionary words fit the _H_K_ pattern.
• Collins includes 11 matches, NWL2023 includes 8, and ENABLE includes 7; the lists overlap.
• Four Wordle answer-list entries match, and all 12 matches are allowed guesses.
• Only 3 matches fall within the top 25,000 English words by frequency.

Which starts are most common, and does the pattern fit Wordle?

C is the most common first letter: five matches start with C, compared with four starting with S. D starts two, and K starts one. C is the strongest branch when narrowing a clue, but it still covers fewer than half of the matches.

Four entries from the Wordle answer list match this pattern, and all four also appear in tournament dictionaries. All 12 matches count as allowed guesses. SHAKE, CHOKE, SHAKY, and KHAKI are candidates, but the available facts do not identify which individual words are answers.

5-letter words with H as the 2nd letter and K as the 4th letter

The endings spread across eight letters: E, O, S, and Y each appear twice; A, I, R, and T appear once each. That spread contrasts with the starting letters, where C and S account for nine of the 12 matches. Use the final slot to separate candidates when the first letter is unknown.

CHOKY leads the Scrabble scores at 17 points, followed by KHAKI at 16 and SHAKY at 15. CHOKE, CHEKA, CHOKO, and CHIKS each score 14, while SHAKE scores 12. The average is 13.8 points, so a familiar word is not automatically the strongest play.