6-letter words with P as the 2nd letter and E as the 3rd letter

The pattern is _PE___: P and E stay fixed while the first, fourth, fifth, and final letters change. Familiar choices include OPENED, SPEECH, SPEAKS, and OPENLY. The set leans heavily toward S starters, yet it also includes words beginning with A, O, E, I, and U, so check more than one opening letter when solving.

At a glance: the shape of the list

• There are 54 matches with P second and E third.
• S begins 38 entries, making it the clear leader among first letters.
• A and O each start 6 entries; E starts 2.
• A final S appears 24 times, more often than any other ending.
• Only 12 entries meet our common-word cutoff.

Which 6-letter words have P second and E third?

Start with the familiar cluster: SPEECH, SPEAKS, SPEEDS, SPENDS, SPELLS, and SPEARS all begin SPE. OPENED, OPENER, OPENLY, and OPERAS show that the pattern is not limited to S words.

S appears at the beginning in 38 of the 54 matches, but that still leaves 16 entries beginning with another letter. If S is ruled out, test A and O next; each accounts for 6 words. This is a better search order than assuming every answer starts SPE.

How do Scrabble scores and dictionary coverage compare?

SPECKY and SPELTZ lead the Scrabble scores at 17 points each. SPECCY and APEXES score 15, while SPECKS scores 14. Those higher values come from less everyday entries, so a familiar word such as SPEECH is easier to recognize but scores 13.

For 6-letter words with P as the 2nd letter and E as the 3rd letter, dictionary coverage is uneven: Collins lists 53, NWL2023 lists 38, and ENABLE lists 33. The full match count combines tournament dictionaries, not a promise that every entry works in every game. Check your game's word list before playing an unfamiliar scorer.