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

The pattern is __LE___: L sits in position three and E in position four, while the other five tiles stay open. RELEASE and SILENCE show how naturally this sequence fits familiar words, but the set also contains specialist entries. Just 16 of its words rank among the 25,000 most frequent English words, so expect plenty of less familiar plays.

7-letter words with L third and E fourth: quick facts

• 154 tournament-dictionary words match the fixed _ _ L E _ _ _ pattern.
• RELEASE and SILENCE are familiar examples with the L-E pair in the required positions.
• Only 16 entries fall within the 25,000 most frequent English words.
• 124 words have definitions; the remaining 30 do not have one in the available definition set.
• PHLEGMY leads the listed tile scores at 18 points.

Which words make the pattern easiest to spot?

Start with familiar words such as RELEASE, SILENCE, and ALLEGED, then check the opening letter. S begins 24 matches, more than any other starting letter; T follows with 18, while A begins 15. That distribution makes an S or T opener a sensible first scan when you already know the middle pair.

The final letter offers an even stronger clue: 61 matches end in S, compared with 23 ending in E. Several examples show why: TALENTS and SELECTS finish with S, while PALETTE and VALENCE finish with E. If your pattern also fixes the last tile, those two endings narrow the search sharply.

Look for related forms as well. ALLEGED and ALLEGES share the same opening sequence, as do DELETED and DELETES. Recognizing that repeated structure is faster than testing every possible letter in the final three positions.

How does the pattern fare across dictionaries?

The full set combines tournament word lists, but their coverage differs: Collins includes 151 matches, NWL2023 has 119, and ENABLE has 105. So a word appearing in one version of the list is not guaranteed to work in another. Check your game's word list before committing an unfamiliar entry.

For 7-letter words with L third and E fourth, the practical split is familiar examples versus a long tail of rarer vocabulary. PHLEGMY scores 18 points, while TELEFAX and XYLENES each score 17, but those high scorers are less everyday than RELEASE or SILENCE.