6-letter words with A as the 1st letter and V as the 2nd letter

The fixed AV opening narrows a six-letter clue to 39 tournament-dictionary words. AVENUE and AVATAR are easy to spot, but entries such as AVOIDS, AVENGE, and AVERSE bring familiar shapes among less common choices. Collins accepts all 39, while NWL2023 and ENABLE each include 22, a gap worth knowing when a candidate looks unfamiliar.

6-letter words with A first and V second at a glance

• Collins lists 39 six-letter words beginning AV.
• ENABLE and NWL2023 each list 22 of them.
• AVENUE, AVATAR, AVOIDS, and AVENGE are familiar examples.
• S is the most common ending: 10 words; E follows with 7.

What patterns do six-letter AV words follow?

The clue fixes the first two letters, so start with AVENUE, AVATAR, AVENGE, AVERSE, and AVOWED before testing less familiar possibilities. AVOIDS and AVAILS add plural or verb-like forms, while AVIATE and AVIARY shift the third letter to I. Those examples show why one crossing letter can narrow the candidates quickly.

Ten words end in S, seven in E, and five each in D and R. If a crossing letter rules out S and E, try D or R next; T and Y each close three entries, and just one word ends in A. That final-letter spread is more informative than treating all AV words as one stem.

AVENUE, AVATAR, and AVIARY show how the third letter can lead into different word shapes; AVOWAL and AVOWED finish with different endings. When a puzzle reveals position three, group the remaining candidates by that letter instead of assuming every AV entry shares a root.

Which AV entries score most?

AVYZED leads the tile-score list at 22, followed by AVYZES at 21, AVIZED at 19, and AVIZES at 18. AVOWRY scores 15, then AVOUCH reaches 14; Z and Y drive the top scores, not the AV start itself. Save unusual high scorers for a board where their letters can land well.

Only 4 entries meet the common-word frequency cutoff, so this pattern is less familiar than AVENUE and AVATAR suggest. Collins has 39 entries, versus 22 apiece in NWL2023 and ENABLE; check your game's dictionary before relying on a word outside its list.

Compared with AV, A-R has 148 six-letter matches, so the second-letter choice changes the search dramatically. If V is fixed, group candidates by their third letter and check each ending against the board; the compact set is easier to cross-check than a broad A-starting list.