3-letter words with R as the 2nd letter

Seventeen of the 52 end in a vowel and seven more close on Y, which is where the points hide. Thirty-five begin with a vowel, so AR, ER, IR, OR and UR carry most of the list. R scores a single point, and the average here is 4.8.

R in the middle at three letters

• 52 three-letter words put R second, more than any other consonant at this length.
• 35 open with a vowel, and AR alone starts 11 of them.
• FRY and WRY tie at the top on 9 points, with CRY and PRY on 8.
• 26 of the 52 are common English, from are, arm and art to try, dry and cry.
• Ten words need Collins, among them ard, ord, fra, pre and erk.

The vowel-plus-R shape dominates

Vowel openings account for 35 of the 52 words: A 11, O nine, E eight, U five and I two. AR is the busiest pair in the whole group, and ark, arm and art are the ones a player meets most often.

Consonant openings are rarer and split finely. BR starts four words, PR and FR three each, CR two, and WR, TR, SR, GR and DR one apiece.

Why the scores stay flat

R is a one-point tile and the list leans on vowels, so the average is 4.8 against 6.3 for three-letter words generally. Eight words reach 7 or better, and no word passes 9.

Every one of the top five ends in Y, which pays four points. fry and wry tie on 9, cry and pry follow on 8, and dry takes 7; further down the list a Y ending most often returns 6.

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