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

Think of the pattern as __SM___: the third and fourth tiles are fixed, while the first, second, fifth, sixth, and seventh can vary. The 42 entries appear in at least one tournament dictionary. D leads as a starting letter, while S is the most frequent final letter.

The pattern at a glance

• Collins includes all 42 matches; NWL2023 includes 30 and ENABLE includes 29.
• JASMINE, JASMINS, and YASMAKS tie for the top score at 16 points.
• Only 2 entries rank among the 25,000 most frequent English words by wordfreq.
• D begins 12 matches; B, C, and M each begin 7.
• S ends 16 words, while E ends 11.

How rare is the S-M pairing?

Only 42 seven-letter words fit S in position three and M in position four, compared with 476 when T takes position four and 271 when S repeats there. The S-M pairing is a narrow slice of this pattern family.

Recognizable examples include DISMISS, JASMINE, BISMUTH, and BASMATI. At the start, D leads with 12 entries; B, C, and M each have 7. At the end, 16 words finish in S and 11 in E.

Scan the endings first, then work backward through the less common openings.

With only 2 common entries, expect many less familiar forms. The examples range from DISMISS and JASMINE to PISMIRE and COSMISM.

Which 7-letter words with S third and M fourth score highest?

JASMINE, JASMINS, and YASMAKS each score 16 points, above the group average of 12. MISM​​ARK, BESMOKE, and MISMAKE follow at 15; BISMUTH scores 14. A 16-point word score is not automatically a 16-point play, since board placement changes the result.

Dictionary coverage is the main limitation: Collins has all 42 matches, while NWL2023 has 30 and ENABLE has 29. Check the word list used in your game rather than assuming every Collins entry transfers.