5-letter words with L as the 2nd letter and D as the 4th letter

That fixed pattern is _L_D_: one letter stays open at the start and another at the end. The 22 qualifying entries are not evenly familiar; SLIDE, BLADE, GLIDE and GLADE are recognizable, while several others are specialist or inflected forms. The ending is the quickest filter: E and S dominate, while only three words end in Y.

The pattern at a glance

• The shape is _L_D_, with 22 tournament-dictionary matches.
• SLIDE, BLADE, GLIDE and GLADE are among the familiar examples.
• Eleven matches end in E, eight in S, and three in Y.
• BLADY and BLUDY top the score table at 11 points apiece.

Which 5-letter words have L second and D fourth?

Six matches are Wordle answers, and all six also appear in a tournament dictionary. The allowed-guess count is 22, so the guess pool is much larger than the answer subset.

Starting letters are concentrated too: G leads with seven matches, B has five, while C and S each contribute three. If the opening tile is unknown, test G before spending guesses on a less common first letter.

SLIDE, GLIDE and ELUDE show how an E ending can still leave different starting letters and vowel paths. Only four entries fall in the common-frequency group, so many matches are poor everyday guesses.

For comparison, 5-letter words with L second and E fourth have 79 matches. Keeping D in the fourth slot cuts the pool to 22, making the ending a strong clue.

How do scores and dictionaries change the shortlist?

Collins includes 22 words in this pattern, while ENABLE and NWL2023 each include 15. That split matters more than a raw tile score: a Collins play can fail in an NWL game, so check your game's word list before committing to an unfamiliar form.

For 5-letter words with L as the 2nd letter and D as the 4th letter, BLADY and BLUDY each score 11, ahead of GLADY at 10. BLADE, CLADE, CLODS and several other matches score 8; premium squares can change the final board value.

The average score is 7.5 points, so the top pair sits above the pattern's typical tile total. A high score alone does not make an unfamiliar entry playable.