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

The fixed positions leave a compact set: every answer has S in slot three and P at the end. Familiar entries such as BISHOP and GOSSIP sit beside less familiar forms including OXSLIP and INSHIP. Only 2 matches fall in the common-word band, so this pattern is better for narrowing a crossword or rack than for expecting everyday vocabulary.

What stands out in this S-and-P pattern?

• Exactly 20 six-letter entries match the fixed S-third, P-sixth pattern.
• Collins accepts all 20 matches, compared with 16 in NWL2023 and 15 in ENABLE.
• U leads the opening letters with 5 matches; I, M, P, and W each have 2.
• OXSLIP tops the scores at 15, while HYSSOP and WASHUP each score 14.
• Only 2 of the 20 matches fall within the common-word cutoff.

How do the words compare across dictionaries?

Collins accepts all 20 matches, compared with 16 in NWL2023 and 15 in ENABLE. That spread matters in a tournament: a pattern match is not a promise that every game dictionary accepts the same entry. Check your game's word list when a move depends on one of the less familiar forms.

Only 2 entries sit in the top 25,000 English words by wordfreq frequency, so most matches fall outside that common-word band. The contrast is plain in BISHOP and GOSSIP beside OXSLIP or INSHIP. Pattern-solving gets you candidates; it does not make every candidate equally recognizable or equally portable between word lists.

Which 6-letter words with S third and P sixth score highest?

OXSLIP is the score leader at 15 points, followed by HYSSOP and WASHUP at 14 each; BISHOP, MISHAP, MASHUP, and PUSHUP each score 13. That makes OXSLIP the first scoring candidate to inspect, not automatically the easiest word to play: board placement and dictionary acceptance still matter.

U begins 5 matches, more than any other initial. If crossing letters rule out U, the remaining openings include I, M, P, and W at 2 each. Every candidate still ends in P, so that final tile gives no extra way to separate the set.

Compare the same third-letter S with a final S: that neighboring pattern has 318 entries, versus 20 here. The ending P is the real bottleneck, not the middle S.