7-letter words with C as the 3rd letter and E as the 4th letter

The pattern fixes C in position three and E in position four, leaving the other five tiles open. Across the tournament dictionaries, 80 seven-letter entries fit; RECEIVE, LICENSE, and RECEIPT show how often familiar roots appear. Yet only 11 qualify as common by our frequency measure, so the total mixes everyday choices with specialist vocabulary.

At a glance: the fixed C-E pattern

• 80 entries fit the seven-letter pattern in at least one tournament dictionary.
• RECEIVE, LICENSE, RECEIPT, and ACCEPTS are among the familiar examples.
• Only 11 entries meet the common-word frequency measure.
• Final S leads with 34 words; final E follows with 13.
• EXCERPT and FACEOFF top the score list at 18 points each.

Which endings and scores stand out?

Final S dominates: 34 of these words end that way, compared with 13 ending in E. ACCEPTS, EXCEEDS, ACCENTS, and ASCENDS show how often the pattern appears in plural or verb forms. When a clue leaves the last tile open, testing S first is a sound shortcut.

The 80-word total does not mean every game accepts every entry. Collins lists 77 matches, NWL2023 lists 63, and ENABLE lists 58. Check your game's word list before relying on a less familiar choice; dictionary coverage is not identical.

How to use 7-letter words with C third and E fourth

Start by locking in the C-E pair, then use the first, second, fifth, sixth, and seventh letters to narrow the possibilities. RECEIVE and RECEIPT share their opening, while LICENSE and LICENCE differ in spelling. Those near-matches are easy to confuse when a puzzle gives only a few fixed tiles.

For a rack or board score, EXCERPT and FACEOFF each reach 18 points in the scoring list. That is the top score here, but the pattern itself does not guarantee a premium play: tile placement and board squares still matter. As a useful comparison, the seven-letter C-K pattern has 370 matches, far more than this C-E set.