7-letter words with E as the 2nd letter and C as the 5th letter

The pattern is _E__C__, with three open positions to narrow down from your other clues. MEDICAL, VEHICLE, REDUCED, and DEFICIT are recognizable matches; the list also includes less familiar plays. R is the leading first letter, while S is the most frequent ending.

At a glance

• MEDICAL, VEHICLE, REDUCED, and DEVICES are familiar examples of the _E__C__ pattern.
• R leads the opening letters with 27 matches; D follows with 21.
• S ends 55 matches, compared with 16 ending in E and 12 ending in D.
• Sixteen matches fall within the common-word group.
• ZEBECKS tops the scores at 24 points, ahead of HEXACTS at 19.

7-letter words with E as the 2nd letter and C as the 5th letter

There are 122 matches across the tournament dictionaries. That is a compact set for a seven-letter pattern, and familiar words account for only part of it. MEDICAL and VEHICLE are easy to recognize; REDUCED, REDUCES, and REJECTS offer different endings while keeping the same fixed letters.

The contrast with nearby patterns is striking: keeping E second but changing the fifth letter to I gives 1,099 matches. With C fixed, changing the second letter to A gives 98, while O gives 97. So the E-and-C combination is more selective than several close alternatives, not a broad pool of interchangeable guesses.

Which examples are worth trying first?

For familiar vocabulary, start with MEDICAL, VEHICLE, DEFICIT, or RECYCLE. Each places the known letters without relying on an unusual spelling. If the final letter is S, try examples such as DEVICES, DEFECTS, or SELECTS; S is the clear leader among the endings in this group.

For board play, the top scores point in a different direction. ZEBECKS scores 24, HEXACTS scores 19, and CEVICHE scores 17; REJECTS and LEXICON each score 16. Those are base word scores, so board premiums can change the total.