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

The pattern is N-C with one letter between: NICELY has I in position two, while NECTAR has E. Only five of the 36 matches meet the common-word cutoff, so familiar choices share space with less common entries. The ending counts offer a quick way to narrow your search.

6-letter words with N first and C third at a glance

• There are 36 matches across the tournament dictionaries.
• Only five matches are classified as common.
• The ending S occurs eight times; D and R each occur five times.
• The average tile score is 10.7, and NICKUM leads at 14.
• Swap N for R in front and the same C-third pattern grows to 93 matches.

Which endings appear most often?

S is the most frequent final letter, with eight matches; examples include NICHES and NACHOS. D and R tie at five each, represented by NECKED, NICKED, NECTAR and NECKER. If your clue fixes the final letter, those three endings account for half the matches.

The remaining endings are less crowded: E and T appear four times apiece, L three times, Y twice, and A once. NICELY and NICETY show the Y ending, while NICKEL and NUCLEI illustrate why the same N-C pattern can lead to very different-looking words. Definitions are available for 25 matches.

Which N-C matches score highest?

NICKUM tops the listed tile scores at 14. NECKED, NICKED and NOCKED follow at 13, while NICKEL, NECKER and NICKLE each score 12. The cluster of K words stands out: when a rack has K, check those before settling for a lower-value option.

Dictionary coverage differs across the matches: 24 appear in ENABLE, 35 in Collins and 25 in NWL2023. Those totals overlap, so they do not add up to 36. Only five matches are common, and some entries are specialized; check your game's word list before playing an unfamiliar one.