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C first and I third covers 100 words, and nearly half of them run through H in the box between. That is the most lopsided consonant split in this part of the set.
H takes the second box in about forty five percent of this group. R follows at sixteen and L at fifteen, and after that the numbers fall away sharply.
With H that far ahead, one guess should settle whether you are in the CH branch or not. CHILD and CHIEF are the two most familiar entries and they share only the first three letters.
If H comes back wrong, CLICK and CRIME cover the next two branches between them and share nothing after the C.
That two step approach handles most of this group in three guesses, which is unusually efficient for a hundred word list.
Yes, C first, O second, I third. The O branch is small but COINS is common enough to be worth knowing about.
CHILD, since the L and D in the last two boxes are more common than CHIEF's E and F, so a partial hit narrows things further.
CHI is a very productive opening in English and there is no equally productive alternative with C first and I third, so one branch ends up carrying the group.