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

The fixed pattern is _ _ P L _ _ _, so the first two and final three letters do the sorting work. EXPLAIN, EXPLORE, EXPLOIT and EXPLODE show how often EX begins this group; REPLACE and REPLIED offer a different opening. Only 19 entries rank among the 25,000 most common English words, so expect a mix of everyday terms and less familiar plays.

At a glance: the P-L pattern

The 100 matches share PL in positions three and four, but their endings and dictionary coverage vary.

• EXPLAIN, APPLIED and REPLACE are among the recognizable examples.
• Words beginning with R lead the first-letter group, with 16 entries; D follows with 14.
• 35 entries end in S and 32 end in E, together making up 67 of the 100 words.
• EXPlODE and AMPLIFY each score 17 points; ZIPLOCK leads the score list at 24.

Which 7-letter words have P 3rd and L 4th?

EXPLAIN, EXPLORE, EXPLOIT and EXPLODE all use EX before the fixed PL, while the endings distinguish the words. REPLACE, REPLIED and REPLIES show how R can lead the pattern; APPLIED, APPLIES and APPLAUD begin with A instead.

Endings narrow a guess quickly: REPLIES and APPLIES finish in S, while REPLACE and EXPLORE finish in E. REPLIED and IMPLIED end in D. Because S and E account for 67 matches together, checking those final letters first gives you the largest groups.

Scores and dictionary coverage

For Scrabble, ZIPLOCK tops the scores at 24 points. ZIPLESS scores 18, while EXPLODE and AMPLIFY each score 17; EXPLAIN, EXPLORE and EXPLOIT each score 16. Those are base word scores, before any board-square bonuses.

Dictionary coverage differs: Collins includes 99 matches, NWL2023 includes 87 and ENABLE includes 78. Those counts overlap, so they are not separate piles to add together. The 100-word total is the combined set, and a tournament game's dictionary determines which entries you can play.