6-letter words with Y as the 1st letter and I as the 4th letter

Y at the opening and I in the fourth slot leave just 15 tournament-dictionary matches. The pattern is unusually narrow: with S in the first slot and I still fourth, the count rises to 244. Most options here are not familiar everyday words, so the letter pattern is a stronger clue than meaning.

The pattern at a glance

• All 15 matches begin with Y and place I fourth; the middle shape is Y _ _ I _ _.
• YEXING leads the score list at 17 points; YOKING, YIKING, YMPING, and YUKING each score 14.
• Nine words end in G, three end in S, and I, M, and R each appear once as the final letter.
• Collins includes 15 matches, while NWL2023 includes 8 and ENABLE includes 6; the dictionary lists overlap.

How many 6-letter words have Y first and I fourth?

There are 15 matches. That is a small pool beside the 244 six-letter words with S first and I fourth, even though the fourth-letter clue stays the same. For a puzzle, lock in Y _ _ I _ _ before testing the less predictable middle letters.

The endings narrow the choices further. G closes nine of the words, including YAWING, YOKING, and YOWING; S closes three, including YOGINI and YOGINS. YOWIES ends in S too, so check the actual fourth position rather than relying on a familiar-looking start and finish.

Which matches score most, and what should you watch for?

YEXING is the clear scoring outlier at 17 points. The next group—YOKING, YIKING, YMPING, and YUKING—scores 14 apiece, while YAWING, YOWING, and YEVING score 13. If your rack has an X, YEXING is the standout play in this set.

The average score is 12.6, but these are not everyday choices: none ranks among the top 25,000 English words by frequency, and only 7 have definitions in the source. That makes the letter pattern more practical than a guess based on familiar vocabulary.

For 6-letter words with Y first and I fourth, dictionary coverage is a real limitation. Collins has all 15, but NWL2023 and ENABLE each include fewer; check your game's word list once before playing a less familiar entry.