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

The pattern is _TE___, so the known letters leave three positions open. STEADY, STEREO, STEAKS, and STENCH show how often the list begins with STE, while UTERUS is a reminder that T need not come after S. Only 8 matches rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency, so many are less familiar choices.

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

• Exactly 70 tournament-dictionary words fit the pattern.
• 62 begin with S; the other 8 start with six different letters.
• Only 8 matches are common by the frequency cutoff.
• Final S is most frequent at 27 words; E follows with 10, then Y with 8.
• STEMMY leads the score ranking at 13 points.

Why so many matches begin with S

The opening distribution is unusually lopsided: 62 of 70 begin with S, producing the familiar STE- run in STEADY, STEREO, STEAKS, STEERS, and STEAMY. But the pattern fixes only the second and third positions. UTERUS starts with U, so don’t rule out a match just because it lacks that common opening.

Of the matches, 51 have a definition, and the average tile score is 7.8. STEMMY scores 13, ahead of STENCH, STEAMY, STEEPY, and STEDDY at 11 each. Less familiar spellings can outscore common words because consonants such as M carry more tile value than common vowels.

Which endings and dictionaries should you check?

The endings narrow choices quickly: 27 words finish in S, while 10 end in E and 8 in Y. If the final tile is unknown, check S first; if S is ruled out, E and Y together account for 18 candidates.

Dictionary coverage differs: Collins includes 69 matches, NWL2023 includes 40, and ENABLE includes 38. These sets overlap, so their counts do not add up to 70. Check your game’s word list before playing a less familiar option such as STEYER; no one dictionary here includes every match.

A quick way to narrow the pattern