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

With N fixed at the start and V in position four, the pattern is N??V??. Only 10 tournament-listed six-letter words fit, and the set is unusually narrow: just one ranks among the 25,000 most frequent English words. NERVES is a familiar-looking entry; NERVED takes the top tile score.

The N??V?? pattern at a glance

• Exactly 10 six-letter entries match N??V?? in at least one tournament dictionary.
• All 10 begin with N and place V fourth; the other four positions vary.
• Six end in S; R occurs twice, while D and L occur once apiece.
• NERVED scores 10, one point above each of the other nine entries.
• Only one match falls within the 25,000 most frequent English words.

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

Only 10 words fit this pattern. The S-first version with V fourth has 83 matches, and the C-first version has 54, so N makes for a much narrower opening. Among N-starting words, V is also a scarce fourth letter: I, E, and A each produce more matches in that slot.

For a clue that fixes N and V, leave the remaining positions open before narrowing further. Requiring an S at the end keeps six candidates; requiring R leaves two. That ending split is a sharper first filter than guessing a vowel in the second position.

Which matches score best?

For 6-letter words with N as the 1st letter and V as the 4th letter, scores are tightly packed: the average is 9.1, NERVED scores 10, and each other match scores 9. NERVED leads by just one point, so the base scores do not separate the other entries.

Endings give you another quick filter: six matches finish in S, two in R, and one each in D and L. Collins lists all 10; ENABLE and NWL2023 list six apiece, so less familiar spellings can depend on your game's dictionary.