7-letter words with N as the 3rd letter and B as the 4th letter

The fixed pattern is _ _ N B _ _ _: N sits in the third slot and B in the fourth. This is a compact group, with just 2 words meeting the common-word cutoff. Familiar anchors include PINBALL, SUNBURN, and SUNBEAM; other matches include less familiar forms such as FINBACK and TANBARK.

At a glance: counts, scores and endings

• Twenty-seven tournament-dictionary words match the N-B middle.
• Only 2 count as common by our frequency measure.
• FINBACK leads the listed tile scores at 18 points.
• Ten matches start with S, more than any other first letter.
• K and S tie as final letters, with 7 words each.

Which words fit the N-B pattern?

PINBALL, SUNBURN, and SUNBEAM make the fixed middle easy to spot: each places N immediately before B in positions three and four. FANBASE and FANBOYS show that the first two letters can vary while the center stays put. The opening S is especially productive, appearing in 10 matches.

The endings split into clear clusters. SUNBURN, SUNBEAM, and SUNBELT finish with different letters, while FINBACK and RUNBACK share the K ending. Across the whole group, K and S each appear at the end of 7 words, so checking either final letter narrows the pattern in a different direction.

How does dictionary coverage compare?

The 27-word total counts entries found in at least one tournament dictionary. Collins includes 26, NWL2023 includes 23, and ENABLE includes 20, so the full group is not accepted uniformly across game lists. Check your game's word list before relying on a less familiar match such as KANBANS or NONBODY.

For a useful comparison, changing only the third letter from N to B produces 233 matches with B still fourth. Keeping N in place and changing the fourth letter to D gives 336. That contrast shows how restrictive this exact N-B center is; the pattern is far narrower than several nearby letter combinations.