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

The frame fixes I in slot two and N in slot four, leaving four slots open. Familiar finds cluster near the front of the alphabet: PICNIC, SIGNAL, KIDNEY, WINNER and DINNER all sit inside the common band, yet only 14 of the 104 clear that bar. Collins lists 101 of them, ENABLE just 65.

How the I-second, N-fourth set breaks down

• 104 matches carry I in slot two and N in slot four.
• P opens 19 and L opens 17, so two letters cover 36 of the set.
• Nineteen words end in S and 16 end in D.
• Only 14 of the 104 sit inside the common frequency band.
• JITNEY tops the scores at 16, with ZINNIA next on 15.

P- and L- words fill more than a third of the list

P supplies 19 matches and L another 17, a combined 36 that runs a little past a third of the set. PICNIC, PIANOS and PINNED carry the P group, while LIONEL sits among the L- words as the one name most players already know.

The remaining openings thin out quickly. S adds 12, G and F eight apiece, W seven, D six and K five, and no other letter reaches five. That gives a sensible search order once the middle letters are locked.

Six matches share the SIGN- frame

SIGNAL, SIGNED, SIGNEE, SIGNER, SIGNET and SIGNOR all keep the same first four letters and still land N in slot four. Only SIGNAL and SIGNED count as common, though SIGNET and SIGNOR show up often enough in crosswords.

The cluster exists because IGN is stubborn: anything beginning S-I-G-N belongs here. Two of the biggest scorers, JITNEY on 16 and ZINNIA on 15, sit outside it and get their value from J and Z instead.

Playing the locked I-and-N shape