Original SIXY research
What 3,000 six-letter words teach us
The SIXY Word Lab measures the patterns inside our curated answer pool. These are not dictionary-wide guesses: every figure below comes from the exact 3,000-word candidate set maintained for the daily game.
By SIXY LLC · Research checked October 14, 2026 · Examples use completed puzzles 1–47.
Choose the question you want to answer
This is the research companion to the game rules. For the meaning of a pink badge, start with the repeat-letter guide. For the evidence behind a solving decision, choose a report below.
- Should I consider another copy of a known letter? Compare pairs, triples, and mixed repeats.
- Does finding two vowels mean I can stop? Separate vowel copies from distinct vowels.
- Where could a yellow letter go? Compare the six positions, then apply the board’s constraints.
The headline findings
Six-letter words contain more repeated-letter structure than many players expect. In our September 2026 dataset, 1,521 of 3,000 words contain at least one repeated letter. That is 50.7% of the pool—slightly more than half. The repeat clue is therefore not a decorative exception; it addresses a pattern that can appear throughout the game.
Six letters do not behave evenly
Position changes probability. S is the most frequent first letter in the pool, appearing at the start of 378 words. A is the most frequent second letter, while I leads the fourth position. At the end, E and R dominate, followed by Y. A solver who knows only the overall frequency of a letter misses this positional information.
The distinction matters after a yellow clue. A yellow E is not equally likely to move into every open space, and a final-position hypothesis should be judged differently from a first-position hypothesis. The Word Lab does not turn a puzzle into arithmetic, but it explains why some placements feel more natural than others.
Explore the analyses
Each report uses the same frozen 3,000-word snapshot so its percentages can be checked against one another. We publish the method as well as the result, and we avoid listing the answer schedule itself.
How we calculated the figures
We counted the 3,000 unique uppercase entries in the maintained SIXY answer dataset as of September 22, 2026. For vowel counts, A, E, I, O, and U are vowels; Y is counted as a consonant so the rule stays consistent. Repeated-letter counts compare the six characters within each word. Position tables count one through six from left to right.
Figures describe the curated SIXY pool, not every six-letter word in English. The pool intentionally favors recognizable words and excludes many inflections, obscure terms, and entries judged unsuitable for a fair daily answer. Dataset curation therefore affects the result—and that is precisely why these statistics are useful for SIXY players.
What the numbers cannot tell you
These are counts of candidate words, not measured player success rates or a prediction of tomorrow’s answer. A scheduled daily puzzle is not an independent random draw from this table. We have not tested which opening word minimizes guesses, so the frequency rankings should not be read as an optimal-opener claim.
Frequency is evidence, not certainty. A common final letter does not make a rare ending impossible. The current row’s green, yellow, gray, and pink clues always outrank a population-level pattern. These reports are best used to compare plausible choices after the board has already narrowed the field.
We will refresh this research when the curated pool changes materially and date the new snapshot. For the rules behind what can enter that pool, read the SIXY word standards. For practical play, continue to the strategy guide.
Check the research without revealing future answers
The downloadable aggregate tables (CSV) include every letter’s count in all six positions, vowel totals, and repeat-pattern counts. They contain no words or answer order. Each position totals 3,000; the six positions together total 18,000 characters. The vowel categories and repeat categories each total 3,000.
We rechecked the published figures against the maintained pool on October 14, 2026; the headline totals still match the September snapshot. Percentages are rounded independently, so displayed categories can sum slightly above or below 100%. Questions or a suspected error? Contact SIXY.