5-letter words with L as the 3rd letter and A as the 4th letter

Because the L and the A are locked together in the middle, the list behaves like a set of LAR and LAS words. Fifteen end in LAR, from SOLAR and POLAR to MOLAR and VELAR, while twenty-six wear the LAS plural seen in ATLAS, COLAS and SOLAS. Everyday words are rare, with only nine ranked as common, but thirteen are Wordle answers.

The L-third, A-fourth set at a glance

• 98 5-letter words match the pattern.
• Twenty-six end in LAS and fifteen end in LAR.
• P- opens twelve words and S- opens ten.
• XYLAN, AFLAJ and FALAJ share the top score of 15.
• Thirteen are Wordle answers and nine count as common.
• 96 of the 98 sit in Collins and 57 in ENABLE.

The LAS plurals and the LAR nouns

Two endings dominate the group. The LAS words are mostly plurals and loanwords, from ATLAS and BOLAS to COLAS and SOLAS, and the LAR words are nouns such as SOLAR, POLAR, MOLAR and VELAR. Together they account for 41 of the 98 entries.

Rarer endings bring in the rest. Ten close on Y, six on N and five on H, and a handful of awkward spellings like XYLAN and TILAK sit outside both families.

Rare tiles lift the scoring list

The top scores cluster on J, X and K. XYLAN, AFLAJ and FALAJ tie on 15, TALAQ, JALAP, JELAB, MALAX and ZILAS share 14, and BYLAW and KULAK land on 13. That is a J-heavy leaderboard for a pattern built on plain L and A, and only the very top needs a rare tile at all.

Where the A ending helps