5-letter words with K as the 1st letter and N as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is K _ _ N _, with the fourth slot settled before you choose the ending. These candidates skew obscure: none ranks among the common entries, and Collins accepts more of them than the other two named tournament lists. Start with familiar forms such as KILNS and KOANS, then treat KRANZ as a scoring outlier rather than an everyday guess.

The K _ _ N _ pattern at a glance

• Exactly 23 tournament-dictionary words fit K _ _ N _.
• Ten end in S and seven end in G; other endings are E, A, O, and Z.
• Collins lists all 23 matches; ENABLE and NWL2023 each list 15.
• None of the matches is marked common by the word-frequency measure.
• KRANZ leads Scrabble scoring at 18 points; KYANG follows at 13.

How many 5-letter words have K first and N fourth?

There are 23 matches. KILNS, KHANS, KERNS, and KOANS show the frequent S ending, while KLANG, KRANG, KLONG, and KAING end in G. Those examples make the final slot a quick way to narrow the pattern once K and N are fixed.

The less familiar entries matter too: KRONE and KRONA finish with E and A, while KRANZ ends in Z. Collins includes all 23; ENABLE and NWL2023 each include 15. Check your game's word list before relying on an entry that appears only in the broader Collins set.

Use the ending and score to narrow your choice

When solving a clue, test the S and G endings first: together they account for most of the candidates. Familiar-looking KILNS or KOANS can be easier to recognize than rarer forms such as KRANG, but the fourth letter still has to be N.

For Scrabble, KRANZ is the standout at 18 points, ahead of KYANG at 13 and KHANS at 12. A strong raw score does not make KRANZ a likely everyday word; none of these entries is marked common. The pattern is better for checking a constrained rack than for guessing a familiar word.