6-letter words with E as the 3rd letter and F as the 5th letter

The frame _ _ E _ F _ is thin, and Collins does most of the work: it accepts 10 words, NWL2023 five and ENABLE just one. SHEAFS, SHELFS, SKELFS and BOEUFS show the shape, and CHEFFY at 20 is the pick of the list.

The 13 at a glance

• 13 words match, and 9 have definitions.
• Six start with S and six end with S.
• Four are SHEAF or SHELF forms: SHEAFS, SHEAFY, SHELFS and SHELFY.
• ENABLE takes only SHEAFS; NWL2023 takes five and Collins 10.
• CHEFFY leads at 20 points, and 12 of the 13 reach at least 10.

6-letter words with E as the 3rd letter and F as the 5th letter

The S-heavy look comes from two families. SHEAFS, SHEAFY, SHELFS and SHELFY vary just two bases, while SKELFS, SWERFS and SHELFS share a closing -FS, the plural shape of a singular ending in F.

The words outside the S group are harder still. BOEUFS, TREIFA, TREYFA and PREIFE will be unfamiliar to most players, and none of the 13 ranks as a common English word. Even SKELFS, which scores 13, is missing from NWL2023 and ENABLE.

Which words score best?

CHEFFY is the outlier at 20, five clear of SHELFY and SHEAFY on 15. SKELFS and DIEOFF reach 13, and SHELFS, SHEAFS, SWERFS and TREYFA sit on 12.

The top word comes with a limit. CHEFFY is NWL2023-only, so Collins players cannot use it; SHELFY and SHEAFY at 15 are the Collins alternatives, and both are Collins-only themselves.

For 6-letter words with E as the 3rd letter and F as the 5th letter, the 12.8-point average is unusually high because 12 of the 13 clear 10 points. The trade-off is familiarity, since SHEAFS is the only entry ENABLE accepts.