7-letter words with D as the 1st letter and E as the 4th letter

D fixes the opening letter, while E sits three places later in position four; the remaining five letters can vary. Of 114 tournament-dictionary matches, 17 fall within the 25,000 most frequent English words. That split explains why DEFENSE, DISEASE, and DEVELOP feel familiar beside less everyday forms such as DAZEDLY and DOZENTH.

At a glance: the D _ _ E _ _ _ pattern

• 114 entries match this pattern in at least one tournament dictionary.
• Definitions are available for 92 of the matching words.
• 17 entries rank among the 25,000 most frequent English words.
• The average score is 11.3 points.
• Collins includes 108 matches, NWL2023 has 93, and ENABLE has 82.

Which final letters appear most often?

The ending counts cluster around three letters: 38 words finish in S, 28 in E, and 12 in D. S and E are strong filters when another clue fixes the last position, while A, L, and Y each appear on five words.

Examples make those endings easy to spot. DEFECTS, DEPENDS, and DETECTS end in S; DEFENSE, DISEASE, and DESERVE end in E; DELETED ends in D. Familiar words can anchor your search while you work through the less obvious matches.

The pattern is not dominated by one word family: the examples include nouns such as DISEASE, verbs such as DEVELOP, and forms such as DELETED. Check the letters you already know before guessing from the opening D alone.

Which matching words score the most?

DAZEDLY leads the high scorers at 21 points, followed by DOZENTH at 20. DIZENED, DOVEKEY, and DOZENED each score 18, all well above the 11.3-point average for this pattern.

Among 7-letter words with D as the 1st letter and E as the 4th letter, the biggest scores belong to entries that may be less familiar than DEFENSE or DISEASE. Treat score and everyday familiarity as separate clues: the 17 common matches are only part of the 114-word set.

Dictionary coverage also varies: Collins has 108 matches, compared with 93 in NWL2023 and 82 in ENABLE. The total counts words found in at least one of those lists, so check your game's word list rather than assuming every entry is accepted.