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289 five letter words begin with CO, and the third letter spreads across more options than most two letter openings allow.
R leads at about thirteen percent, N at eleven and M at ten. A second O takes eight, and after that nothing reaches six.
That is a flat spread for a two letter opening, which means the third box rarely settles the word on its own.
COULD, COURT, COLOR, COSTS and COVER are the most common entries, and they reach five different third letters between them.
Confirming both C and O cuts the field from over a thousand C words to under three hundred, which is the largest single narrowing available on any C page.
From there the useful move is to test the third box with a word covering R, N and M rather than committing to one of them.
That is why a two letter opening is worth chasing early when the tiles allow it.
COURT is the strongest opener. It covers the leading branch and its U, R and T are common enough that a miss still eliminates a real slice.
CO works as a prefix meaning together, and it also opens a large set of ordinary roots. The two sources stack up.
It is the most common entry but its U and L are weak tests. COURT or COMES rules out more when it misses.
COCOA and COOKS style shapes put a second O in the third or fourth box. Worth testing once an O turns up again.