7-letter words with V as the 2nd letter and N as the 4th letter

AVE- opens 7 of the 19 and EVE- opens 5, so a single guess at the first three letters settles 12 words. The other seven are one-offs, from DVANDVA with its two Vs to OVONICS. Most of the list is verb forms, which makes the endings predictable.

V-second, N-fourth words at a glance

• Collins lists all 19 words, NWL2023 lists 14 and ENABLE lists 13.
• Two are everyday words: EVENING and AVENUES.
• S closes 7 words, D closes 3, and G and R close 2 each.
• DVANDVA tops the scoring on 15, ahead of EVINCED and EVANISH on 13.
• The mean score is 11.2 points.

Which words begin with AVE and EVE?

AVE- opens AVENGED, AVENGER, AVENGES, AVENIRS, AVENSES, AVENTRE and AVENUES. The first three are all forms of one verb, so learning AVENGE gives you three words at once.

EVE- opens EVENERS, EVENEST, EVENING, EVENTED and EVENTER. These follow the same logic with the stems EVEN and EVENT, which is why S, D, G and R are the common last letters.

A regular verb and its forms score within a point or two of each other. The three AVENGE words make 12, 11 and 11, and the two EVINCE words make 13 and 12.

What are the seven words outside AVE- and EVE-?

EVINCED and EVINCES are forms of EVINCE, and EVANGEL and EVANISH start with EVAN-. OVENING and OVONICS are the only two beginning with O.

DVANDVA is the odd one out. It is the only word here that starts with D, it uses V twice, and its 15 points come from two 4-point Vs and two 2-point Ds.

Scores bunch tightly after DVANDVA. The next nine words all fall between 11 and 13, so almost any play from this pattern is worth about the same.

A caution about scarce words