5-letter words with P as the 3rd letter and E as the 5th letter

The pattern is _ _ P _ E: P stays in the middle, and every match ends in E. Familiar options such as APPLE and MAPLE sit beside less common words like KOPJE and RAPHE. Collins lists all 22 matches; ENABLE and NWL2023 each list 15, so dictionary choice matters when you move from solving a clue to playing a word.

At a glance: 5-letter words with P as 3rd and E as 5th

• There are 22 tournament-dictionary words with P third and E fifth.
• Every match ends in E, so the final tile is already fixed.
• KOPJE scores 18 points, the highest score among these entries.
• APPLE, MAPLE, and AMPLE each score 9 points.
• Seven matches are Wordle answers; all 22 are allowed guesses.

Which words stand out in this pattern?

T leads as the first letter, with four matches; R follows with three. A, C, L, and O each begin two words, while D and E each begin one. That spread makes the opening letter a useful clue, but the fixed P and E narrow the search more sharply.

Familiar entries include APPLE, MAPLE, AMPLE, LAPSE, and RUPEE. KOPJE, RAPHE, and OUPHE are less likely to come to mind.

Only four matches rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency, so expect many candidates to feel unfamiliar. That contrast matters for a solve: try APPLE or MAPLE when the crossing letters fit, but don't use familiarity as a validity test; KOPJE and RAPHE make this pattern less predictable than it first looks.

How should you play the P-third, E-fifth pattern?

For Wordle, seven answer-list words fit this pattern, compared with 22 allowed guesses. Once P and E are confirmed, work through the unknown first, second, and fourth letters. Avoid spending a guess simply to test another E at the end; every candidate already has that tile.

For a word game, KOPJE is the scoring standout at 18 points, ahead of LAPJE at 14. The more familiar APPLE, MAPLE, AMPLE, PUPAE, and COPSE each score 9. High value comes with a trade-off: the strongest scorer is also less familiar than the everyday examples.

Where the word lists differ