6-letter words with S as the 3rd letter and L as the 5th letter

Lock in S at position three and L at position five, then test the remaining four letters against the pattern __S_L_. Familiar matches include MYSELF, RESULT, CASTLE, and MUSCLE, but the full set also includes less common choices. The counts cover entries found in at least one of the tournament dictionaries, not every word list on the web.

6-letter words with S third and L fifth at a glance

• 82 words match __S_L_ across at least one tournament dictionary.
• 15 matches rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency.
• RESULT, MYSELF, CASTLE, and MUSCLE are recognizable examples.
• JUSTLY leads the scoring list at 16 points; MYSELF and POSHLY score 14 each.
• Collins lists 80 matches, NWL2023 lists 61, and ENABLE lists 56; those counts overlap.

Which familiar words fit the pattern?

RESULT, MYSELF, ITSELF, EASILY, and MOSTLY all place S third and L fifth. CASTLE and MUSCLE offer another recognizable pair, while INSULT and HUSTLE show how many different endings fit the same fixed letters.

The final letter is most often E or Y: 26 matches end in E, while 23 end in Y. That means checking those two endings first is a sensible move when the last tile is still unknown. At the start, R leads with 11 matches and M follows with 10.

How do scores and word lists change your choices?

JUSTLY scores 16 points, putting it ahead of MYSELF, POSHLY, and DUSKLY at 14. J gives JUSTLY its edge; familiar words are not always the strongest scoring plays. The average score across the matches is 8.8 points.

The 82 matches do not all appear in every dictionary: Collins has 80, NWL2023 has 61, and ENABLE has 56. Check the word list used in your game before relying on a less familiar entry. The pattern also has far fewer matches than S-third words with E fifth, which number 476.