7-letter words with H as the 2nd letter and O as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is _H_O___: H occupies the second spot and O the fourth, while the other five letters vary. The words range from everyday choices such as CHOOSES and THROATS to less familiar entries such as SHMOOZY. Only 8 fall within the common-word frequency group, so expect many candidates to be specialist vocabulary rather than routine conversation.

The H-and-O pattern at a glance

• The pattern contains 81 seven-letter entries across the tournament dictionaries.
• S starts 25 entries, C starts 22, and T starts 17.
• Final S is most frequent at 28; final D follows with 11.
• SHMOOZY leads the scoring examples at 24 points.

How do these seven-letter words begin and end?

S and C together account for 47 of the 81 matches, with examples such as SHOOTER, SHROUDS, CHRONIC, and CHOOSES. T supplies another 17, including THROUGH, THRONES, and THROATS. Those opening letters give you a practical first filter when a rack or crossing letter fixes the start.

The endings cluster even more sharply: 28 words finish in S, while 11 finish in D. E and C each close 8 and 7 entries respectively, and Y also ends 7. Try the common S ending first when the final square is open, but don’t assume every match is a plural; CHOOSES is a verb form, while THRONES is a plural noun.

Scores and limits for 7-letter words with H second and O fourth

SHMOOZY scores 24 points, ahead of SHMOOZE at 21 and WHOOMPH at 20 on tile values. PHLOXES and SHLOCKY each score 19. These are strong tile-value candidates, but a premium square can change the board result, so treat the base score as a starting point rather than a guaranteed turn total.

Every match appears in at least one tournament dictionary: 76 are in Collins, 60 in NWL2023, and 52 in ENABLE. The totals differ because the dictionaries do not share an identical vocabulary. Only 8 entries meet the common-word cutoff, so check your game’s word list before committing to an unfamiliar candidate.