6-letter words with C as the 4th letter and O as the 5th letter

The frame is _ _ _ C O _, so C and O lock down the two middle slots. BEACON, FALCON, MASCOT, and SITCOM are the familiar entries, and the -CON and -COM tails together account for 23 of the 63 words. Five count as common, and ZIRCON at 17 heads a scoring list that runs on rare tiles.

The _ _ _ C O _ frame

• 63 tournament words fit the frame _ _ _ C O _.
• 23 of them end in -CON or -COM.
• Nine close on -COM, from SITCOM and DOTCOM to SATCOM and UNICOM.
• Fourteen close on -CON, including BEACON, DEACON, FALCON, and ZIRCON.
• S ends 23 words, N ends 14, and M ends 9.
• C opens 10 words, S opens 9, and R opens 6.

The -CON and -COM tails

The -CON group is the larger half, holding fourteen words. BEACON, DEACON, FALCON, and ZIRCON sit beside GARCON, GASCON, RETCON, and NEOCON, a mix of old loanwords and recent coinages.

The -COM set is distinctly modern. SITCOM, DOTCOM, ROMCOM, CAPCOM, SATCOM, and UNICOM were all coined within living memory, which makes them memorable but often doubted. That doubt is misplaced; the list lets them count.

Plurals and the rare-tile scorers

S closes 23 words, and many are -OS plurals: DISCOS, TELCOS, NARCOS, and CHICOS are among them. N ends a further 14 and M just 9, so the final letter leans hard toward the plural.

The scores reward rare tiles. ZOCCOS tops out at 19 on a doubled Z, ZIRCON reaches 17, and ZINCOS 17 as well. JUNCOS takes 15, with CAPCOM and KINCOB next on 14.

Where this pattern stays thin