6-letter words with T as the 2nd letter and O as the 5th letter

Only 13 tournament-dictionary words fit this six-letter pattern. The middle clue fixes T in slot two and O in slot five, leaving just three positions to separate the candidates. Their openings are unusually concentrated: eight begin with S, four with E, and one with A.

The pattern at a glance

• 13 entries match the fixed pattern, and each appears in at least one tournament dictionary.
• Collins includes all 13; NWL2023 has 11, while ENABLE has 10.
• ETYMON and ATHROB tie for the top tile score at 11 points each.
• Eight words start with S, four with E, and one with A.

Which first letters narrow the search?

S dominates, accounting for eight of the 13 candidates; E supplies four, and A supplies the remaining one. That imbalance gives you a practical first filter: if the first tile is known, an S-start is likelier than an E-start, and an A-start leaves only ATHROB.

Among the S words, STUPOR and STATOR show different endings, while ETALON and ETHNOS give E two distinct continuations. N leads the last-letter counts with four entries, followed by S with three; L and R each finish two. A known final N therefore narrows the search more than either L or R.

Which matches lead on tile score?

ETYMON and ATHROB lead at 11 points apiece, followed by STROOK at 10. Those are tile totals, not guaranteed board scores: premium squares and cross-words change the result. The average is 7.9, so the top pair sit above a modest set-wide mean.

Dictionary coverage matters. Collins recognizes all 13, but NWL2023 accepts 11 and ENABLE 10, so a candidate valid in one lexicon may fail in another. No entry ranks among the top 25,000 English words by frequency; expect less familiar vocabulary, including ETYMON and STROOK, rather than a rack full of everyday words.