5-letter words with E as the 1st letter and A as the 3rd letter

This fixed pattern leaves just three open spots: _E_A_. Only six matches are classed as common, so familiar choices such as EMAIL, ERASE and EXAMS stand out from the rarer entries. The final letter narrows the set further: S, E and T account for most of the endings.

The pattern at a glance

• There are 21 matches for E in position one and A in position three.
• S is the most frequent final letter, with 7 words; E follows with 6.
• T ends 4 matches, while each of D, L, M and N ends one.
• EXACT and EXAMS tie for the highest score at 14 points.

Which words fit E first and A third?

EMAIL, EXACT, EXAMS, ERASE, ENACT and EVADE are among the recognizable options. Each keeps E at the start and A in the middle, but the endings give you different routes: EMAIL ends in L, ERASE in E, and EXAMS in S.

The ending pattern is unusually concentrated. Seven words finish in S and six in E, leaving only eight spread across T, D, L, M and N. If your last tile is fixed, check those clusters first rather than scanning all 21 candidates equally.

EXACT and EXAMS lead the score list at 14 points apiece; EXALT follows at 12. The stronger scores come from the X, so keeping that tile matters more than choosing between the two leaders when the board gives them equal room.

How do the word lists differ?

Collins includes all 21 matches, compared with 16 in NWL2023 and 14 in ENABLE. Eighteen have definitions, but only six fall among common English words. That gap matters in a tournament rack: a valid entry can still be unfamiliar, and the three dictionaries do not share identical coverage.

For a clue-solving round, start with EMAIL, EXACT, ERASE, EXAMS, ENACT and EVADE before testing the obscure options. For a board game, check your game's word list once; the Collins total is broader than the ENABLE count. The 5-letter words with E as the 1st letter and A as the 3rd letter make a compact pattern, not a set of equally familiar plays.