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

Lock the second tile to N and the fourth to R, and the search returns 74 six-letter words across the tournament dictionaries. Recognizable results include energy, untrue, snarky and gnarly, yet only three sit in the common-word band. The pattern reaches well beyond everyday vocabulary.

The pattern at a glance

• The full 74 come from Collins, with NWL2023 at 58 and ENABLE at 55.
• I and S each start 14 words; E starts 13.
• S closes 24 matches, ahead of Y with 11.
• Average word score sits at 8.4 points.
• ENTREZ tops the score list at 15, with four words tied at 13.

Which 6-letter words have N second and R fourth?

I and S lead the starting-letter count, with 14 matches each; E contributes 13 and A contributes 12. The I group includes inbred, ingram, inured and intron, while S gives you snarky, snares, snorts and snores. These clusters make a useful first pass when other tiles are still unknown.

U starts 11 matches, while K starts 6 and G starts 3. The pattern does not point to one obvious opening letter: if your first tile is fixed, check both I and S before spending a guess on a rarer K or G candidate.

Which endings and scores stand out?

Endings are lopsided: 24 matches finish in S, more than twice the 11 ending in Y. Plural-looking forms such as snares, snorts, snores and snarls appear among the S-ending examples; D follows with 7, while E, M and P each have 5.

The top board score is ENTREZ at 15, followed by SNARKY, KNARLY, KNARRY and KNURLY at 13 each. ENTREZ is an outlier, not a typical score: the average is 8.4.

Collins carries all 74 matches, NWL2023 lists 58, and ENABLE 55. For this N-and-R pattern, confirm the entry against your game's own dictionary before you play it.