7-letter words with E as the 2nd letter and F as the 4th letter

The pattern is _E_F___: E occupies position two, F position four, and five slots remain open. PERFECT and PERFORM show how readily the fixed letters sit inside familiar words; JEWFISH shows the pattern also admits unusual, high-value plays. Only 8 matches rank among the 25,000 most frequent English words, so a clean fit is often less familiar than it first appears.

At a glance, the E-and-F pattern

• 85 words match the seven-letter pattern _E_F___.
• PERFECT, PERFORM, WELFARE, and SELFISH are recognizable examples.
• JEWFISH scores 23 points in Scrabble.
• Only 8 matches fall among the 25,000 most frequent English words.
• Collins includes 82 matches; NWL2023 has 63 and ENABLE has 56.

How many 7-letter words have E 2nd and F 4th?

There are 85 matches for this exact letter-position clue. Familiar choices include PERFECT, PERFORM, WELFARE, and SELFISH; less everyday entries include SERFDOM, PERFIDY, and SEAFOAM. All keep E in the second slot and F in the fourth, whatever letters fill the other five positions.

The starting letters are not evenly spread. S leads with 14 matches, followed by R with 12; D and P each begin 11. For comparison, the same pattern with U second has 129 matches, while O second has 122.

Which matches score well, and which are familiar?

JEWFISH tops the score list at 23 points, with JEFFING at 21 and REAFFIX at 20. Those are strong rack scores, but they are not the words most players will spot first. Start with the common-looking shape in PERFECT or PERFORM, then check less familiar candidates against your game’s rules.

The dictionaries do not cover identical sets: Collins has 82 of these words, NWL2023 has 63, and ENABLE has 56. The 85-match total includes words accepted by at least one of those tournament lists, not necessarily all three. For 7-letter words with E 2nd and F 4th, confirm the specific entry in your game’s word list before playing it.