Enter criteria and click Find Words
V first and R third gives 44 words, and nearly half of them put E in the box between.
E leads at about forty eight percent, with A and I both at twenty five. Between those three the group is effectively complete.
VERSE, VERBS, VERGE, VERVE and VERSA all share their first three letters and cover most of the E branch. VIRUS and VIRAL take the I branch between them.
Five words sharing VER means the last two boxes carry all the remaining work. VERSE and VERSA differ in one box, and so do VERBS and VERGE in effect.
That makes the E branch quick to finish once you are inside it, which is the practical reward for testing E first.
VIRUS and VIRAL are the two to reach for, and they share four letters, so landing either one narrows the I branch immediately.
No. VOTER puts O in the second box and T in the third, with the R fourth. The R arrives one box late.
Yes, it uses V in both the first and fourth boxes. That repeat is unusual here and worth testing once the common VER endings have failed.
VOR is not a productive opening in English, so almost nothing survives with V first, O second and R third.