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

The fixed middle pair creates a small, uneven word set: 10 matches begin with M, while 8 begin with D. Familiar entries such as DISLIKE and MISLEAD sit alongside less everyday forms like AISLING and BUSLOAD. Keep the pattern in view as you scan, because a match can start or end with many different letters.

How many 7-letter words with S as 3rd and L as 4th?

• There are 43 seven-letter matches with S in position three and L in position four.
• DISLIKE and MISLEAD are recognizable examples; only 2 matches count as common by word frequency.
• M is the most frequent first letter, with 10 matches; D follows with 8.
• Fourteen matches end in S, while 10 end in E.
• The average tile score is 10.3 points, and OXSLIPS leads the scoring examples at 16.

Which matches score highest?

OXSLIPS scores 16 points, ahead of DYSLOGY and MISLUCK at 15 each. Those top scores come from less familiar words, so a rack with an S in the third slot does not automatically make the highest scorer a practical play.

For more recognizable options, DISLIKE scores 12, while MISLIKE scores 13. The shared opening in MISLEAD, MISLAID, MISLAYS, and MISLIKE makes mis- a useful pattern to test when your first two tiles fit; the required S-L pair follows it in each word.

The openings are varied beyond that cluster. GOSLING, ENSLAVE, and UPSLOPE show different routes into the same middle pair, so check the whole pattern rather than assuming every answer starts with M or D.

Which of these words fit your game?

The 43 matches span several tournament lists: Collins includes 42, ENABLE includes 23, and NWL2023 includes 26. Those sets overlap, so their counts cannot be added to get a larger total. Check your game's word list before playing an unfamiliar entry such as OXSLIPS.

Everyday vocabulary is a real limitation here: just 2 matches rank among common English words, even though 33 have definitions. The pattern is better for narrowing a known letter puzzle than for guessing a likely word from scratch.