7-letter words with N as the 1st letter and L as the 6th letter

Fix N in the opening square and L just before the final letter, and 54 tournament-dictionary entries fit. Familiar picks include NOTABLE and NOTABLY; NIGHTLY is another recognizable form. The total depends on your game’s dictionary: Collins accepts 53, NWL2023 accepts 45, and ENABLE accepts 41, so some entries will not carry over between word lists.

At a glance: the N-and-L pattern

• NOTABLE and NOTABLY are familiar choices among the 54 matching words.
• Y is the most common final letter, appearing on 22 entries.
• Only 3 entries rank among the top 25,000 English words by frequency.
• The average score is 10.4 points.

Which letters finish these words?

Y dominates the endings: 22 words finish in Y, exactly twice the 11 ending in S and more than the 10 ending in E. When the last square is unknown, Y is a strong first test, but it does not cover the whole pattern.

The remaining 11 words end in less common ways: 4 finish in A, 4 in L, 2 in I, and 1 in F. NITRILE and NETBALL show how different those less frequent endings can look.

Which matching words score well?

NYMPHLY leads the scores at 20 points. NAKEDLY follows at 15, while NIGHTLY, NIPPILY, and NOBBILY each score 14.

For a more familiar play, NIGHTLY combines a 14-point score with an ordinary meaning. NICKELS and NAIVELY each score 13, giving you recognizable alternatives when NYMPHLY is not a fit.

Check the word list before you play

The 54-word total includes entries accepted by at least one tournament dictionary, not words shared by every game. Collins includes 53 matches, compared with 45 in NWL2023 and 41 in ENABLE.

That difference matters more than the overall count during a game: an entry accepted in Collins might not be valid in an NWL2023 game. Only 38 of the matches have definitions here, and just 3 are common by frequency, so expect many options to be unfamiliar.