7-letter words with Y as the 3rd letter and O as the 5th letter

This is the roomiest of the Y-third patterns, and it holds real vocabulary. KEYWORD, ANYBODY, PLYWOOD, BOYCOTT and KEYNOTE all fit, and nine of the 82 words count as common. A final S or E finishes more than half the list, which helps when you only know the ends.

Facts about ??Y?O??

• Collins lists 78 of the 82, NWL2023 lists 56 and ENABLE lists 50.
• S ends 25 words, E ends 19, D ends 12 and K ends 10.
• P and S open nine words each; A opens eight and T opens seven.
• SKYHOOK, JOYPOPS and AZYMOUS reach 21 points, and the average is 15.4.
• 64 of the 82 carry definitions.

Which nine are common words?

KEYWORD scores 18, the best of the nine. ANYBODY and PLYWOOD follow on 16, BOYCOTT, KEYNOTE and THYROID on 14, PAYLOAD on 13, and ANYMORE and PAYROLL on 12.

All nine are accepted in Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE alike, so they are the safe tier of this pattern. Everything scoring above 18 is a rarer word.

Why do ten words end in K?

K is worth 5, so the K-enders carry the pattern's best scores. SKYHOOK reaches 21, HAYFORK 20, SHYLOCK 19, DAYWORK 18 and DAYBOOK 17.

Most are compounds: SKY plus HOOK, HAY plus FORK, DAY plus BOOK. If your rack holds a K and an O, test those stems first, since each opens a family of similar plays.

The catch is coverage. NWL2023 holds 56 of the 82 and ENABLE only 50, so look up your game's word list before committing to a rare compound such as OLYKOEK.

What does the neighbourhood look like?