6-letter words with A as the 3rd letter and L as the 5th letter

The fixed pattern is _ _ A _ L _. Just 23 matches rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency, so familiar choices sit beside less common tournament entries. Endings narrow the search quickly: Y, S and E account for nearly all the words, while only six end in other letters.

A quick read on the A-and-L pattern

• 113 words fit the pattern, with A in position three and L in position five.
• REALLY, NEARLY and STABLE are recognizable examples among the matches.
• Y is the most common final letter, appearing in 39 words.
• S and E follow closely, with 38 and 30 matches respectively.
• WEAKLY and WRAXLE lead the listed tile scores at 16 points each.

How many 6-letter words have A third and L fifth?

There are 113 matches across the tournament dictionaries counted here. Collins has all 113, while ENABLE has 80 and NWL2023 has 82; the totals differ, so a word accepted in one list may not work in another.

The endings show a striking concentration: 39 words finish in Y, 38 in S and 30 in E. That leaves only six matches ending in I, D or A. If your final tile is known, check Y, S and E first; those three endings cover nearly the whole set.

The first letter offers another cut. S begins 26 matches, more than twice as many as D, which starts 12.

G follows with 10, while B and C each start seven. A rack that fixes the first tile can shrink the search before you test the middle.

Which matches are worth checking first?

• For familiar vocabulary, try REALLY, NEARLY, UNABLE, STABLE and VIABLE.
• For a high raw tile score, WEAKLY scores 16; QUAILS and TEAZLE score 15.
• Only 23 matches are among the top 25,000 English words by frequency, so many entries are uncommon.
• Check your game's word list before relying on a less familiar entry such as WRAXLE.