6-letter words with N as the 2nd letter and P as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is _N_P__, leaving the first, third, fifth, and sixth letters open. These 15 tournament-dictionary entries are unusually scarce, and only one meets our common-word cutoff. U leads the opening letters with six words, while S contributes five and I contributes three; the rest begin with A.

The pattern at a glance

• The pattern has 15 words across ENABLE, Collins, and NWL2023.
• Only one of the 15 entries is common by our frequency measure.
• Six words begin with U, five with S, three with I, and one with A.
• D is the most frequent final letter, appearing in four words.
• SNAPPY and SNIPPY score 13 points each; INKPOT scores 12.

How many 6-letter words with N second and P fourth?

Exactly 15 words fit: SNIPER, SNAPPY, SNIPES, SNIPPY, SNIPED, UNSPUN, INKPOT, UNOPEN, UNIPOD, UNIPED, ANOPIA, INSPAN, INSPOS, UNSPAR, and UNSPED. The familiar-looking options cluster around SNIP-, while several U-starting entries are less common.

That scarcity is striking beside nearby patterns. Keeping P fourth but changing the second letter to A gives 152 matches; changing it to O gives 130. The N-and-P combination has fewer than one tenth as many matches as either of those neighboring patterns.

Which matches score highest, and where are they listed?

SNAPPY and SNIPPY tie at 13 points, the top score in this group. INKPOT follows at 12, while SNIPED, UNIPOD, UNIPED, and UNSPED each score 9. With no entry reaching 14 points, the strongest plays come from the unusual double-P words rather than a high-value letter.

The source counts are 14 in Collins, 12 in NWL2023, and 11 in ENABLE; those groups overlap. A pattern match alone does not guarantee acceptance in every game, so check your game's word list before challenging an unfamiliar entry. The 6-letter words with N as the 2nd letter and P as the 4th letter are a narrow clue set, not a list of everyday vocabulary.