6-letter words with A as the 2nd letter and N as the 4th letter

The pattern is _A_N__, leaving the first, third, fifth, and sixth letters open. CANNOT, MANNER, and LAUNCH show how different the remaining slots can look. Only 28 matches meet the common-word frequency cutoff, while 130 have definitions; expect everyday choices alongside less familiar tournament words.

At a glance: counts, endings, and scores

• 177 words match the pattern, with A second and N fourth.
• Only 28 matches are common by the top-25,000 frequency cutoff.
• Final D and S tie as the most frequent endings, at 32 words each.
• M begins 19 matches; F and P each begin 18.
• ZARNEC leads the scoring examples at 17 points.

6-letter words with A as the 2nd letter and N as the 4th letter

The pattern has 177 matches across the tournament dictionaries: 175 appear in Collins, 123 in NWL2023, and 110 in ENABLE. Those source counts overlap, so they do not add up to 177; the total counts each matching word once.

That makes this pattern broader than several nearby alternatives. With R second and N fourth there are 153 matches, and O in the second slot gives 152; changing the fourth slot to I while keeping A second jumps the count to 510.

For a quick shortlist, try CANNOT, LAUNCH, MANNER, GAINED, or WARNED. Each keeps the fixed letters in place while showing a different first letter or ending.

D and S offer the largest ending groups, while H and L are much narrower, with 8 and 7 matches respectively.

Which letter endings narrow the choices fastest?

D-ending and S-ending words are tied at 32 apiece, ahead of R at 26 and Y at 20. CANNOT and BANNED show the D ending; SAINTS and PAINTS illustrate S. M is the most common first letter, with 19 matches, just ahead of F and P at 18 each.

Scoring standouts are less everyday: ZARNEC reaches 17 points, while JAUNTY, JANNEY, and MAGNOX each reach 16. HAUNCH scores 14, and the average score is 9.3. Only 28 words meet the common-frequency cutoff, so a familiar-looking pattern does not guarantee a familiar answer; check your game's word list before playing an obscure find.