The letter 't' is one of the most common consonants in English. Looking at the pattern _a___e, there are many potential 6-letter words that could fit, such as "native," "cattle," "battle," and others. The 't' could appear in multiple positions (first, third, fourth, or fifth) making it a high-value guess. Since I've already guessed 'a', 'e', and 'r', and 'r' isn't in the word, 't' seems like the best statistical choice.