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

The pattern is K _ _ V _ _: three fixed letters and three open slots, with V locked into the fourth position. KNIVES is a familiar match, while KELVIN gives you a different opening shape. All 11 appear in Collins; ENABLE and NWL2023 each include five, so the game’s dictionary changes which entries you can play.

K and V pattern at a glance

• 11 words match K _ _ V _ _ across the covered tournament dictionaries.
• KNIVES, KNAVES, and KELVIN are recognizable examples.
• Only two matches count as common by English word frequency.
• Five matches end in S, while three end in D.
• KURVEY leads the scoring list at 16 Scrabble points.

How rare is K with V in the fourth position?

Among six-letter patterns with V fourth, K is a sparse first letter: 11 matches, compared with 83 for S and 54 for C. That makes the opening K the sharpest filter. Keep K and V fixed while testing the three open slots, rather than rebuilding the whole word from an anagram.

For Scrabble tile points, KURVEY leads at 16, followed by KIDVID at 15. KNIVED and KERVED each score 14, while KNIVES scores 13. These are base tile totals, so a premium square can change the board score; the word’s letters do not change.

Using the K-first, V-fourth pattern

The set is uneven in everyday familiarity: only two entries count as common, and ten have definitions. KNIVES and KELVIN are easier to recognize than KEEVES or KEAVIE, so a pattern match is not automatically a word you will know at a glance.

Collins contains all 11 matches, while ENABLE and NWL2023 contain five each. For a game using either of those smaller lists, only its accepted entries fit this pattern; check your game's word list before playing. If the first letter is uncertain, compare the much larger S-and-V pattern before committing.