5-letter words with O as the 3rd letter and S as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is __OS_: O sits in position three and S in position four, leaving the first two and last letters open. The 48 entries range from familiar choices such as CLOSE, THOSE, and GHOST to less everyday forms; 16 rank among the commonest English words by frequency. Wordle’s answer list contributes 21 matches, giving the pattern solid puzzle coverage without making every entry a likely answer.

The pattern at a glance

• 48 words match the fixed __OS_ pattern in tournament dictionaries.
• Collins counts 48 matches; ENABLE and NWL2023 each count 38.
• 21 of these words appear in Wordle’s answer list.
• 15 matches end in E, including familiar choices THOSE and CLOSE.
• GROSZ scores 15 points, ahead of KIOSK at 13.

Which endings make this pattern easiest to scan?

E is the most frequent final letter: 15 matches end that way, while T appears in 9 and H and S each appear in 7. CLOSE, THOSE, and CHOSE make recognizable candidates when the last tile is unknown. The shared O-S middle narrows the shape, but it does not identify one answer.

The starting letters spread differently. G begins 7 entries, while C and P begin 5 apiece; GROSS, GHOST, and GOOSE show how much variety sits behind one initial. CROSS and CLOSE also show why checking known letters at both ends beats guessing from the O-S pair alone.

Only 2 matches finish in O, compared with 15 that finish in E. If O is confirmed at the end, that less common ending sharply narrows the remaining possibilities.

5-letter words with O as the 3rd letter and S as the 4th letter

Wordle’s answer list has 21 matches, while all 48 entries are allowed guesses. Treat the full set as a candidate pool, not an answer shortlist: lock in the two middle tiles, then test the first, second, and last positions against options such as THOSE, CLOSE, GHOST, and CROSS.

For word games that score tiles, GROSZ leads at 15 points, followed by KIOSK at 13 and SKOSH at 12. Those high scorers serve a different purpose from familiar clue answers. Collins has a count 10 higher than ENABLE and NWL2023, so check your game’s word list before playing an unfamiliar form.