6-letter words with O as the 3rd letter and S as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is _ _ O S _ _: the third tile is O and the fourth is S. You get 81 six-letter matches, from familiar forms such as CLOSED, CLOSER, and CLOSET to less everyday entries. The list is broad enough for word games, but dictionary coverage varies; a match in one tournament list does not guarantee acceptance in another.

What stands out about this six-letter pattern?

• The 81 matches all use the pattern _ _ O S _ _.
• Collins includes 80; ENABLE has 59 and NWL2023 has 60.
• Ten matches count as common in English frequency data.
• G begins 14 matches, while C and P begin 10 each.
• Forty end in S, leaving 41 with a different final letter.

Which words fit O third and S fourth?

Familiar clusters make the pattern easier to scan. CLOSED, CLOSER, CLOSET, and CLOSES all share CLOS at the start; CHOSEN and CHOSES offer another recognizable branch. GHOSTS, BOOSTS, and ROOSTS show how naturally the final pair can form a plural, while GLOSSY and FROSTY finish differently.

Not every match is everyday vocabulary: GNOSIS, PTOSIS, MYOSIN, and CROSSE are less likely to come to mind during a timed solve. GROSZY leads the tile scores at 19 points, followed by GROSZE at 16; KIOSKS, PHOSSY, DROSKY, and SPOSHY each score 14. Play the unusual high-value options only when your rack and board support them.

Why shouldn’t you assume the word ends in S?

The ending is the pattern's useful surprise. S is the final letter in 40 matches, but 41 end in something else, including Y in 11 and D or R in seven each. So a known _ _ O S _ shape does not have to take a final S; CLOSET, FROSTY, and CHOSEN show other endings.

Compare this 81-match group with the same pattern using S in the third position: that sibling has 199 matches, well over twice as many. Keeping O fixed while changing the fourth letter also opens larger sets, such as N with 146 or O with 133. The fixed O-S pair makes a narrower search.

The 81 entries are not accepted in every dictionary: Collins has 80, while ENABLE and NWL2023 contain 59 and 60. The ten common words do not represent the full vocabulary, so check your game's chosen list before playing an unfamiliar entry such as PHOSSY or GROSZE.