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

The fixed YL pair appears in both everyday words such as STYLISH and less familiar entries such as CHYLIFY. Just five matches rank as common by English-word frequency. S leads both ends of the pattern in different ways: it starts more words than any other letter and finishes the largest group.

Pattern snapshot: Y followed by L

• The pattern has 73 seven-letter matches across the tournament dictionaries.
• STYLISH, SKYLINE, and STYLING are recognizable examples.
• Only five matches meet the common-word frequency threshold.
• S begins 18 words, the largest starting-letter group.
• A final S appears on 24 words; final E is next with 18.

Which words fit the Y-L positions?

Write the pattern as two blanks, Y, L, then three blanks. STYLING and STYLIST both open with STYL-, while SKYLINE uses a different first pair. PAYLOAD and IDYLLIC show how many distinct word shapes can accommodate the same middle letters.

The neighboring pattern with Y third and S fourth has 55 matches, fewer than this Y-L group. For a crossing clue, start with the fixed pair, then use the word’s first or final letter to narrow the choices. S is the strongest ending to test, with E the next most common.

• STYLING and STYLIST both begin with STYL-.
• SKYLINE, PAYLOAD, and IDYLLIC fit the same fixed Y-L pair.
• The neighboring Y-third, S-fourth pattern has 55 matches.

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

CHYLIFY tops the scoring list at 21 points. SHYLOCK and STYLIZE each score 19, while SKYLARK and SKYLIKE score 18 apiece. The most familiar-looking options are not the top scorers: STYLISH and SKYLINE offer easier recognition, but lower scores.

Collins accepts 70 matches, compared with 56 in NWL2023 and 51 in ENABLE; those dictionary groups overlap. The full set has 73 entries, yet only five are common, so an unfamiliar match deserves a dictionary check before you play it. This pattern is richer in specialist vocabulary than its handful of familiar examples suggests.

• CHYLIFY scores 21 points, the highest score in this group.
• SHYLOCK and STYLIZE score 19 points each.
• Collins has 70 matches, NWL2023 has 56, and ENABLE has 51.