10-letter words with F as the 2nd letter

F in second place is rare: 138 words out of thousands at this length. Almost every one starts with a vowel-F pair such as AF-, EF- or OF-, which is why A, E and O dominate the openings. Only 9 of the 138 are common words.

F as the second letter by the numbers

• 138 ten-letter words carry F in second place, and Collins holds 133 of them.
• A opens 80 of the 138, so more than half start with AF-.
• S closes 59 words, with E at 27 and Y at 14 behind it.
• Only 9 entries are common words, about one in 15.
• Effeminize leads the scoring at 27 points, on an average of 18.5.
• Rare-letter entries such as effluxions and affixtures reach 23 points.

Why A, E and O start almost every one

A opens 80 words, E opens 30 and O opens 24, so three vowels account for 134 of the 138. U starts 2, I 1 and S 1.

That split follows the shape of the words: most are AF-, EF- or OF- compounds and adjectives. Officially, afterwards, efficiency and affordable all share a doubled or clustered consonant after the first vowel. Words of this shape rarely fall outside the dictionaries, since 112 of the 138 carry a definition.

The aff-, eff- and off- pattern

Double letters sit right after the F in much of the list. Affiliated, affidavit and affordable open with AFF-, efficiency and effeminate with EFF-, and officially and offshoring with OFF-.

The rest lean on the AFT- and OFT- shapes: afterwards, afternoons, aftertaste, aftershock, aftershave and oftentimes. Those six alone cover everyday English, which makes them the easiest entries to spot in a grid.

Watch the doubled consonant when you guess. An AFF- start takes two F tiles, so a rack with one F rarely fits, while afterwards uses a single F and stays playable more often.

Two Zs and an X top the score table