5-letter words with E as the 2nd letter and R as the 4th letter

Locking E into slot two and R into slot four leaves three positions open, but the endings are far from evenly spread. The 98 matches include everyday choices such as HEART, LEARN, and WEIRD alongside less familiar tournament entries. That mix matters: a pattern search can solve a clue quickly, yet the full word pool is broader than ordinary conversation.

At a glance: E and R lock the middle

• 98 tournament-dictionary words fit the fixed E-and-R slots.
• 36 matches count as common by frequency, but many are less familiar.
• S is the most common final letter, appearing in 31 words; Y follows with 24.
• ZEBRA leads the scoring examples at 16 points, with JERRY at 15.

How do endings narrow this pattern?

The answer-list overlap is 21 words, and all 21 also appear in a tournament dictionary. The allowed-guess pool is 98, so it is much wider than the answer subset. HEART, HEARD, and LEARN show the pattern in recognizable vocabulary, but a matching guess is not automatically an answer.

S and Y dominate the endings with 31 and 24 matches; E adds 14, while A and O each add 7. Once the fixed letters are placed, test S and Y early, then keep the less common endings in reserve.

Among five-letter patterns keeping R fourth, E second has 98 matches; A second has 92 and O second has 84. E leads, but only narrowly over A, so its category does not dwarf the next vowel.

Which starts and scores stand out?

Starting letters are unusually balanced: D, L, P, and R each lead 9 matches, while H, S, and T each lead 8. No single initial dominates, so avoid spending guesses testing one starting-letter family. A revealed third tile is a better separator than the first letter here.

Score chasing changes the shortlist. ZEBRA scores 16, the strongest example; JERRY scores 15, while KERRY scores 12.

Dictionary coverage also varies: Collins accepts 97 matches, compared with 69 in NWL2023 and 67 in ENABLE. Many entries are less familiar than the common examples, so check your game's word list before playing an obscure candidate.