7-letter words with E as the 3rd letter and R as the 5th letter

The pattern is __E_R__: the third tile is E and the fifth is R, while the other five positions stay open. Only nine entries rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency, so CLEARLY, CLEARED, and CLEARER stand out from many specialist terms. Dictionary coverage varies: Collins includes 102 matches, versus 72 in NWL2023 and 64 in ENABLE. Definitions are available for 67 entries, leaving some playable words without a definition here.

At a glance: the E-R pattern

• 104 tournament-dictionary words match __E_R__.
• 32 words begin with S, the most frequent opening.
• 28 finish with D, the leading final letter.
• QUEERLY leads the scoring list at 19 points.
• Just nine matches fall within the top 25,000 English words by frequency.

Which openings and endings narrow the choices?

S leads the opening letters by a wide margin: 32 matches start there, compared with 12 beginning C and 11 beginning P. If a clue already fixes the first letter, test S first; it cuts through the biggest group of candidates.

At the other end, D closes 28 words, S closes 19, and R closes 15. CLEARLY and CLEARED share the opening CLE but split at the final tile, a quick reminder to use a known ending rather than guess from the shared middle.

The neighboring pattern with I in the fifth slot is much larger, at 421 words. Keep R fixed unless the clue changes it; swapping a confirmed letter for a near-match would discard the central constraint.

Scoring and dictionary fit for 7-letter words with E as the 3rd letter and R as the 5th letter

QUEERLY scores 19 points, ahead of QUEERED at 17 and QUEERER at 16. The Q-heavy leaders are an unexpected scoring pocket in a pattern otherwise represented by familiar forms such as CLEARER and CHEERED.

Use the fixed E and R as anchors, then check the two opening and two closing tiles against your rack. With only nine matches in the common-frequency group, a plausible-looking form can still be obscure; CHEVRET, for example, is among the listed high scorers.

Dictionary fit is another constraint, not a footnote: Collins has 102 matches, NWL2023 has 72, and ENABLE has 64. The 104-word total combines entries across tournament lists, so check your game's word list before playing a less familiar answer.