7-letter words with R as the 3rd letter and R as the 5th letter

Two Rs separated by a single tile make a pattern that feels harder than it is. The middle tile is usually a vowel, T, D or C, and the first two letters are often A plus a vowel. Run those through your head and 35 words become a short checklist of familiar shapes.

Quick profile of the two-R frame

• 35 words fit, though only 1 is common English.
• 26 have a definition; the average score is 10.
• A and P each open 6 words, and C opens 4.
• S closes 17 words, while L, P and W close 3 each.
• XERARCH tops the scores at 19.
• The 6-letter version of this frame has 40 words; the 5-letter one has 29.

Which families repeat?

The AURORA family gives auroras, AURORAL and aurorae. CURARA gives curaras, curares and curaris, and TORERO gives toreros. All use a vowel-R-vowel-R rhythm, which is easy to hear once you say them aloud.

The AIR- compounds are the second set: AIRDROP, AIRCREW and airtram. EAR- gives EARDRUM and eardrop, and WAR- gives wardrop. Each of these puts an R-led half after a short first word.

Rarer shapes include sororal, parerga, forerun and furores, which share the same R-vowel-R spine but no common stem.

Where do the points come from?

XERARCH scores 19, with an X worth 8 and an H worth 4. TORTRIX follows at 14, wardrop and gorcrow at 13, and PORTRAY and aircrew at 12.

That makes PORTRAY the natural pick for a player who wants a familiar word, while XERARCH is a puzzle-solver's find. The score gap between first and second is five points, the widest step on the list.

Dictionary coverage