6-letter words with N as the 1st letter and B as the 3rd letter

The fixed pattern is N?B???, so the second and final three letters decide which candidates survive; only three matches rank as common English words. NOBODY is the familiar anchor, while NUBUCK offers a very different route when letter value matters. The pool also includes less familiar forms such as NEBECK and NUBBIN.

The N?B??? pattern at a glance

• Exactly 32 words match the six-letter N?B??? pattern across tournament dictionaries.
• Only 3 matches are classed as common; NOBODY is a familiar starting point.
• Collins accepts 29 of these words, compared with 21 in NWL2023 and 17 in ENABLE.
• Seven words end in S and six end in E, the most frequent final letters.

How many six-letter words fit N?B????

The tournament-dictionary total is 32. That is fewer than the same pattern beginning with R, which has 83 matches, or S, which has 57; changing the third letter to T gives 48 N-starting matches. Those comparisons make the fixed B a strong narrowing clue.

Start with familiar examples such as NOBODY, NOBLES, NEBULA, and NIBBLE, then use the remaining slots to check less common options. NOBLER and NUBILE broaden the set beyond everyday vocabulary. The endings help sort candidates too: S and E lead, followed by D and Y, with four words apiece.

Which N-and-B words score highest?

For 6-letter words with N as the 1st letter and B as the 3rd letter, the top tile-score choices are compact, less familiar words rather than the obvious everyday examples.

• NUBUCK scores 14 points, tied for the highest score.
• NEBECK and NEBBUK also score 14 points each.
• NIBBLY, NUBBLY, and NYBBLE score 13 points apiece.