5-letter words with U as the 2nd letter and S as the 3rd letter

The fixed pattern is _US__, so the first and final letters do most of the sorting. Familiar matches include MUSIC, BUSES, SUSHI, DUSTY and RUSTY, while the full set also contains less common choices. The count combines words found in at least one of Collins, NWL2023 or ENABLE; a match in one list does not guarantee acceptance in another.

At a glance: the _US__ pattern

• There are 91 tournament-dictionary matches for this five-letter pattern.
• M is the most frequent first letter, with 18 matches.
• S and Y lead the final-letter choices with 30 and 28 words.
• HUSKY scores 15 points, the highest score among the examples.

Which letters start and end these words?

MUSIC gives M the leading spot: 18 matches start with that letter. B follows with 10, while F, G and R each begin 8 words. Those clusters make the first position a practical way to narrow a rack or a puzzle search.

The endings are unusually concentrated. Thirty matches end in S and 28 end in Y, so those two letters account for most of the listed words. BUSES, BUSTS and GUSTS show the S ending; DUSTY, RUSTY and HUSKY illustrate the Y group.

Do any matches work for Wordle or score well?

Yes: 17 matches are Wordle answers, and all 91 matches are allowed guesses according to the Wordle counts. The fixed U-S pair is a strong clue, but it leaves three unknown squares; use the remaining guesses to test letters rather than assume every matching word is an answer.

HUSKY leads the scoring examples at 15 points, followed by MUSKY, BUSKY and HUSHY at 14 each. PUSHY, BUSHY, MUSHY, DUSKY and CUSHY each score 13. These are tile scores, not a promise of the same total on every board.

Dictionary coverage is not uniform: Collins includes 90 matches, NWL2023 has 67, and ENABLE has 62. The counts overlap, so they should not be added together. For 5-letter words with U as the 2nd letter and S as the 3rd letter, check your game's word list before relying on an unfamiliar entry.