6-letter words with D as the 3rd letter and G as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is _ _ D G _ _, so the third and fourth tiles are settled while the first, second, fifth, and sixth remain open. BUDGET and GADGET are familiar examples; JUDGEY tops the scoring list. Just 15 of the 85 sit in the top 25,000 English words, leaving plenty of tournament-only entries.

The pattern at a glance

• 85 entries match once you keep only tournament-dictionary words.
• B opens 12 matches, more than any other letter; M opens 10.
• S closes 26 words, the commonest ending; D closes 19.
• JUDGEY tops the score table at 18 points.
• Only 15 matches fall within the top 25,000 English words by frequency.

Which words fit the D-G pattern?

BUDGET, GADGET, LEDGER, and WIDGET are easy anchors: each places D and G together in the middle, in that order. JUDGES, BADGES, and HEDGES show how often an S ending appears among the familiar examples.

The remaining letters create useful branches. JUDGED and JUDGES share the same opening, while LODGED, LODGES, and LODGER keep the middle pair and change the ending. That makes the final two tiles especially informative when you have already confirmed the pattern.

Not every match is everyday vocabulary. JUDGEY is the top scorer, but words such as KEDGED and FADGED are less familiar; check your game's dictionary before relying on a rare entry.

How does this pattern compare with nearby clues?

The third-letter position makes a large difference: keeping G fourth but changing D to N yields 223 matches, compared with 85 here. Keeping D third and changing G to E gives 105, so the D-G pairing is more restrictive than that alternative.

Once the fixed pair is confirmed, the outer tiles do the work: among 6-letter words with D as the 3rd letter and G as the 4th letter, endings S and D cover the largest groups. BUDGET and GADGET show T is possible too, and LEDGER with BADGER covers R.

Collins includes 84 matches, NWL2023 includes 61, and ENABLE includes 57. Coverage differs by list, so the same word can be valid in one and missing from another.