7-letter words with W as the 3rd letter and D as the 6th letter

The shape is ??W??D?, and it is tighter than it looks. Nine of the 21 matches end in -WARDS, five in -WINDS, and the rest split between -WORDS, -HIDE and a pair of loners. Learn those tails and you can name most of the list before you touch a tile.

The ??W??D? list in five facts

• 21 words fit the pattern in Collins; NWL2023 and ENABLE list 17 each.
• 18 of the 21 end in S, two end in E and one ends in Y.
• R and U each open five of the words, more than any other first letter.
• COWHIDE and BYWORDS tie for the top score at 16 points.
• The average score is 12.4 points, and 5 of the 21 are everyday words.

Which word families make up the 21 matches?

Nine words share the -WARDS tail: TOWARDS, REWARDS, UPWARDS, ONWARDS, COWARDS and INWARDS are familiar, while ADWARDS, USWARDS and VAWARDS are oddities you will rarely meet outside a word list.

The -WINDS group has five members: REWINDS, UNWINDS, ENWINDS, INWINDS and UPWINDS. Add BYWORDS, REWORDS and AYWORDS, plus RAWHIDE and COWHIDE, and only REWELDS and UNWELDY sit outside a family.

That prefix-plus-stem structure is the expert shortcut: if a rack holds W, D and S, test a prefix against WARD, WIND or WORD before anything exotic.

Which of these words score the most?

COWHIDE and BYWORDS score 16 each, helped by two four-point letters apiece. RAWHIDE, VAWARDS, AYWORDS and UNWELDY follow at 14, and UPWARDS and COWARDS reach 13.

Scores stay modest because the pattern has no J, Q, X or Z. Your edge comes from placement on a premium square, not from the letters.

Coverage is the catch. Collins takes all 21, but NWL2023 and ENABLE take only 17, so a few entries fail in North American games; check your game's word list before playing a rare one.

When the D moves, the list explodes