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

The fixed pattern is _O____A: O sits in slot two, and A closes every answer. C begins 23 matches, more than any other first letter. Familiar candidates such as FORMULA and GORILLA are a small slice of a list that also includes specialized vocabulary, so the opening letter can be a useful first filter.

Pattern facts at a glance

• The pattern has 125 tournament-dictionary matches, and every one ends in A.
• C is the most common starting letter, appearing in 23 answers; B and R are the next most frequent starts.
• Only 5 entries are common by the top-25,000 English-word frequency measure.
• The average Scrabble score is 11.3 points, but the top scorer, POLYZOA, reaches 21.

Which 7-letter words with O second and A last are familiar?

FORMULA, GORILLA, BONANZA, GONDOLA, and NOVELLA are recognizable choices among the matches. For a less familiar clue, try checking the first letter: C accounts for 23 words, while the next-largest group, B, has 13.

The scoring leaders take a different turn. POLYZOA scores 21 points, KOPIYKA scores 20, and DOPIAZA scores 19 before any board bonuses. BONANZA scores 18, showing that a more recognizable word can still be a strong rack play.

How to narrow 7-letter words with O second and A last

Start by locking in _O____A, then use any revealed letters to sort the remaining five slots. If the first letter is C, focus on that group; it is the largest starting-letter cluster in this set. If you have a high-value tile, compare candidates such as POLYZOA and KOPIYKA rather than assuming a familiar word will score more.

A useful limitation: just 5 matches count as common, so many answers are specialist terms or names. Check your game's word list before relying on an unfamiliar entry; 123 matches appear in Collins, compared with 87 in NWL2023 and 70 in ENABLE.