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3-letter words with T as the 2nd letter

13 3-letter words with T as the 2nd letter make a compact pattern, from familiar ITS and ATE to less familiar ETH and NTH.

13 wordsTop pick ITSHighest score ETH 6

6 of 13 are everyday words (46%). A friendly list: most players will know the top picks.

A is the most common 2nd letter in 3-letter words (261 words); J is the rarest (2). The bar under each letter shows the size of its list.

Best words to play first 13 · most-used first

  • ITS3
  • ATE3
  • ETA3
  • ATT3
  • ETH6
  • ITA3
  • UTE3
  • ATS3
  • NTH6
  • UTA3
  • UTS3
  • STY6
  • UTU3
All valid words 13

A to Z. Includes rare and Collins-only words. Linked tiles open the word's meaning, score and rhymes.

  • ATE3
  • ATS3
  • ATT3
  • ETA3
  • ETH6
  • ITA3
  • ITS3
  • NTH6
  • STY6
  • UTA3
  • UTE3
  • UTS3
  • UTU3
Letters by positionIn 31% of these words the 1st letter is U.
1st letter
  1. U31%
  2. A23%
  3. E15%
3rd letter
  1. A23%
  2. S23%
  3. E15%

Highest-scoring words

Scrabble and Words With Friends points, before board bonuses
WordScrabbleWords With FriendsDictionaries
ETH65All three
NTH66All three
STY65All three
ITS33All three
ATE33All three
ETA33All three
ATT33All three
ITA33Collins only
UTE34Collins · NWL
ATS33NWL only
UTA34All three
UTS34All three

A T in the middle sharply narrows a three-letter clue: this group has 13 entries, compared with hundreds for several vowel positions. ITS and ATE are easy to spot, but the set also includes less familiar forms such as ETH, NTH and UTU. Starting or ending letters can narrow the choices further.

At a glance: the middle-T pattern

  • U leads with four entries: UTE, UTA, UTS and UTU.
  • A starts three words: ATE, ATT and ATS; E and I each start two.
  • A and S are the most common final letters, with three words each.
  • Six entries fall within the common-word frequency band; ITS and ATE are familiar examples.
  • The dictionary counts are 9 in ENABLE, 12 in Collins and 11 in NWL2023.

How many 3-letter words have T as the 2nd letter?

Exactly 13 tournament-dictionary words put T in the middle. That is far fewer than the vowel-center patterns: three-letter words with A in second position number 261, while O has 239. The T set is a narrow clue, not a broad starter pool.

The opening letters are uneven: U supplies four, A supplies three, and E and I supply two apiece. N and S contribute one each. If your first letter is unknown, U gives you the largest branch; if you know the first letter is A, check ATE, ATT and ATS.

Use the endings, then check your game’s dictionary

Final letters provide another filter: A and S each close three words, while E and H close two. The remaining endings, T, U and Y, appear once apiece. A final S leaves ITS, ATS or UTS; a final H points to ETH or NTH.

Acceptance is not identical across game dictionaries: the group has 9 ENABLE entries, 12 Collins entries and 11 NWL2023 entries. A word present in one list may not be accepted in another, so check your game’s word list before relying on an obscure option like UTU.

Questions people ask

What are the 3-letter words with T in the middle?
The 13 matching words are ITS, ATE, ETA, ATT, ETH, ITA, UTE, ATS, NTH, UTA, UTS, STY and UTU. Each has T as its second letter, though dictionary coverage differs across games.
Which first letters appear in these three-letter words?
U starts four of the words, A starts three, and E and I start two each. N and S start one apiece. That makes U the strongest first-letter lead when you have no other letters to work with.
Are all 13 words accepted in every word game?
No. The set contains 9 ENABLE entries, 12 Collins entries and 11 NWL2023 entries, so acceptance depends on the dictionary your game uses. Check its word list before playing a less familiar choice such as ETH or UTU.

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