6-letter words with K as the 1st letter and A as the 4th letter

The pattern is K _ _ A _ _, but the matching words are far from equally familiar. Only 2 meet the common-word cutoff, even though 37 have definitions. KARATE, KATANA, and KEBABS are easier to recognize than many of the entries, so start with the familiar examples when you are solving a clue.

At a glance on the K-and-A pattern

• There are 46 matches across the tournament dictionaries.
• S is the most common ending, appearing on 21 words; A is next with 10.
• KUVASZ leads the scoring examples at 22 points, ahead of KOKAKO at 18.
• Only 2 entries meet the common-word cutoff, so expect many uncommon terms.

Which 6-letter words have K first and A fourth?

KARATE, KATANA, and KAYAKS show how the fixed letters leave room for very different word shapes. KEBABS and KANAKA also fit, while KNEADS offers a less obvious arrangement. The fourth-position A is the anchor; check the remaining letters against the exact pattern rather than relying on a familiar K start.

The ending split is distinctive: 21 matches finish in S, more than twice the 10 ending in A. KATANA and KUMARA are examples of the A ending, while KAYAKS and KEBABS show the dominant S ending. If your clue fixes the last letter too, that split quickly narrows the candidates.

Which matches score highest, and what should you check?

KUVASZ scores 22, the highest among these examples; KOKAKO scores 18, KAYAKS 17, and KAKAPO and KABAKA each score 16. The average score is 12.7. For a board game, compare the whole rack and board position, not just the headline scorer: an unusual word can be hard to place.

Dictionary coverage differs: 43 entries are in Collins, 29 in NWL2023, and 23 in ENABLE, with overlap between those lists. The 46-word total counts entries present in at least one of them, not a promise that every game accepts every match. Check your game's word list before challenging or playing an unfamiliar entry.