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

The pattern is rare: only 59 words qualify across the tournament dictionaries, and just 2 meet the common-word cutoff. ANXIOUS, NOXIOUS, and MAXIMUS are recognizable examples, while MAXIXES leads the scoring list. Every match ends in S, so the challenge is narrowing the first six letters without treating the whole set as equally familiar.

The X-and-S pattern at a glance

• There are 59 tournament-dictionary words with X third and S seventh.
• The set contains 39 ENABLE words, 56 Collins words, and 47 NWL2023 words.
• Only 2 matches fall within the top 25,000 English words by frequency.
• MAXIXES scores 23 points, the highest score among the matches.
• S opens 11 of the 59 words and T opens 10, so those are the likeliest first tiles.

How many 7-letter words have X third and S seventh?

There are 59 words matching the pattern across ENABLE, Collins, and NWL2023. The dictionary counts overlap, so they are not separate piles to add together. Coverage varies: Collins includes 56 matches, compared with 47 in NWL2023 and 39 in ENABLE.

ANXIOUS and NOXIOUS show how the pattern can hide inside familiar words; TUXEDOS and FIXINGS are other recognizable choices. MAXIMUS also fits. Most matches are less common, so a game’s accepted word list matters more here than familiarity alone.

• ANXIOUS and NOXIOUS both fit the fixed X-third, S-seventh pattern.
• TUXEDOS, FIXINGS, and MAXIMUS are other recognizable matches.
• Collins has 56 matches, while NWL2023 has 47 and ENABLE has 39.

Which matching words score the most?

MAXIXES leads at 23 points, followed by MYXOMAS at 21. PYXIDES and WAXEYES each score 20, while BOXFULS and HEXACTS each reach 19. These high scorers are much less familiar than ANXIOUS, so check the exact spelling before building a play around one.

For a quick board scan, lock X into the third square and reserve the final square for S; then test the four middle letters against the pattern. That positional check avoids chasing words that merely contain X and end in S. The full set of 7-letter words with X as the 3rd letter and S as the 7th letter is small, but dictionary coverage still differs.

• MAXIXES scores 23 points, the highest score in the pattern.
• MYXOMAS scores 21; PYXIDES and WAXEYES each score 20.
• BOXFULS and HEXACTS each score 19 points.