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F first and R third covers 88 words, and O in the second box accounts for nearly a third of them on its own.
O leads at around thirty two percent, A follows at twenty four, then E at seventeen and U at thirteen.
FORUM, FARMS, FERRY and FIRST spread across those four branches, so one of them is usually a productive place to start.
FORMS, FIRMS and FARMS differ only in the second box and are otherwise identical. Landing any one of the three effectively hands you the other two, which makes this group unusually quick to finish once you are inside it.
Start with FORCE to test the O branch, then FIRST if it misses. Between them they cover the two busiest paths and share only the F and the R.
No. FRESH has R in the second box and E in the third, so it sits in a different pattern. F first and R third needs a letter between them.
It covers the I branch and uses S and T in the last two boxes, both of which are frequent enough that a miss still rules out a lot.
Only FORTH. FOURTH runs to six letters, so it falls outside a five letter list no matter where its letters sit.