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

Lock V into the middle and A immediately after it, and the pattern becomes _ _ V A _. The 30 matching words vary sharply in familiarity: just two meet the common-word cutoff. Endings offer a stronger clue, since S appears last in 15 entries, while JAVAS leads the score list at 15 points.

The _ _ V A _ pattern at a glance

• Thirty five-letter entries match the fixed V-A pair in positions three and four.
• NAVAL and RIVAL are among the recognizable examples; only two entries qualify as common words.
• Fifteen matches end in S, making that final letter the most frequent ending by far.
• N is the most common first letter, with five matches; D and L follow with three each.
• JAVAS scores 15 points, ahead of KIVAS and KAVAS at 12 apiece.

Which endings and scores stand out?

S dominates the final position: 15 of the 30 words end that way. L comes next with five, while N and R each finish three. When the final square is unknown, testing S first cuts through the possibilities faster than guessing among the less frequent endings.

JAVAS is the top scorer at 15 points, while KIVAS and KAVAS each score 12. VIVAS, VIVAT, FAVAS, and TAVAH score 11. These are the standout plays by point value, but several are less familiar than NAVAL or RIVAL.

How should you narrow the pattern?

Start with the first and last slots: N leads the openings, and S leads the endings. That makes N _ V A S a strong pattern to check, with NAVAL as another recognizable option when the final letter is L. The two common words are only a small slice of the matches.

Dictionary coverage differs: 28 entries appear in Collins, 24 in NWL2023, and 20 in ENABLE. Those counts overlap, so they do not add up to the 30-word total. Check your game's word list before committing to an unfamiliar play; this pattern's long tail includes many uncommon forms.