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

The fixed pattern is __DE___: D occupies position three and E position four, leaving four letters to identify. Common matches include FEDERAL, ORDERED, and ELDERLY, but just 14 of the 141 entries rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency. This is a focused clue list, not a set of everyday vocabulary.

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

• 141 qualifying entries match the fixed D-E pair in positions three and four.
• Only 14 rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency.
• M is the most common opening letter, with 13 matches.
• S is the most common ending, appearing on 40 entries.
• ZYDECOS leads the score list at 22 points.

Which matches are easiest to recognize?

FEDERAL, ORDERED, ELDERLY, and UNDERGO are recognizable anchors; each keeps the D-E pair intact while changing the surrounding letters. ENDEMIC, HIDEOUS, and WIDENED show how widely the pattern can sit inside a word. The openings are scattered: M leads with 13, while C and R each contribute 11, so one initial letter narrows the field only modestly.

Word endings give a stronger sorting clue. Forty entries end in S, compared with 17 ending in D and 16 in Y; examples include INDEXES, RODENTS, and MODESTY. If your crossing letters show a final S, start there instead of treating all 141 candidates as equally likely.

Definitions are available for 107 matches, giving you a way to separate recognizable vocabulary from the broader tournament pool.

Which matches score most?

For 7-letter words with D as the 3rd letter and E as the 4th letter, ZYDECOS tops the score list at 22 points, followed by CADENZA, FEDEXED, and JADEDLY at 19 each. INDEXED reaches 16. The surprise is that a fixed middle pair does not force a low score: Z, X, and J supply much of the scoring weight in those leaders.

Dictionary coverage varies: 133 matches appear in Collins, 97 in NWL2023, and 81 in ENABLE. Those sets overlap, so their counts should not be added. Some entries are specialist terms or inflections, and a casual game may reject words accepted elsewhere; check your game's word list before challenging a play.