6-letter words with N as the 3rd letter and I as the 5th letter

The pattern is _ _ N _ I _, with N in slot three and I in slot five. Only 10 of the 137 matches belong to the common-word group, so a familiar-looking frame does not guarantee an everyday answer. Collins lists 132 matches, compared with 86 in NWL2023 and 76 in ENABLE.

N in third, I in fifth at a glance

• 137 tournament-dictionary words match the six-letter pattern.
• Only 10 matches fall within the common-word group.
• The most frequent final letter is E, appearing in 40 matches; S follows with 21.
• P leads as the first letter, with 18 words; T follows with 14.
• The average tile score across the pattern is 9.5 points.

Which familiar words fit N third and I fifth?

TENNIS, PENCIL, CANDID, BANDIT, MANTIS, PUNDIT, and RANCID make this pattern easier to scan, and each keeps N in the third slot and I in the fifth. AUNTIE and LENTIL show how often a final E or L completes a recognizable word. TENNIS, PENCIL and LENTIL all put E second.

The ending counts offer a practical solving clue: E and S together account for 61 matches, while N and L account for another 29. These endings do not identify a single answer, but they help narrow the final tile after you have confirmed the fixed letters. P and T are the strongest first letters, with 18 and 14 words, so PUNDIT and TENNIS sit in the busiest rows.

How do these N-and-I words score?

ZENDIK tops the scoring examples at 20 points; ZINCIC follows at 19, and CONFIX scores 18. JUNKIE and BENZIN share 17 points behind CONFIX, and all of them contrast with familiar words such as TENNIS and PENCIL.

Only 10 matches are classed as common, and the pattern alone does not prove a word will be accepted. Collins has broader coverage than NWL2023 or ENABLE; confirm the active dictionary before playing a rare entry.