5-letter words with U as the 3rd letter and A as the 5th letter

The pattern is fixed at _ _ U _ A, but the words vary sharply in familiarity and game value. FAUNA and SAUNA are easy to recognize; THUJA, the top scorer, is much less familiar. Only 4 matches count as common by our frequency measure, so a pattern match alone does not guarantee an everyday word.

At a glance: U in third place, A at the end

• Exactly 32 words match the five-letter pattern, with U third and A fifth.
• FAUNA, SAUNA, SCUBA, and LAURA are the 4 common matches.
• THUJA scores 15 points, ahead of AJUGA and NDUJA at 13 each.
• S starts 7 matches, more than A with 5 or C with 4.
• The average tile score is 7.8 before any board bonuses.

Why are so many matches unfamiliar?

Only 4 of the 32 matches fall within the common-word frequency group. FAUNA, SAUNA, and SCUBA are familiar choices; words such as SHURA, CAUDA, and INULA are less likely to come to mind during a quick puzzle. A blank in the first, second, or fourth slot can therefore leave several obscure possibilities.

Dictionary coverage also varies: Collins has 29 matches, NWL2023 has 24, and ENABLE has 18. Those totals overlap, so they are not separate groups to add together. The practical limitation is that a match accepted in one game may not be accepted in another; check your game's word list before relying on an unfamiliar option.

How many U-third, A-fifth words are Wordle answers?

• The pattern has 3 matching Wordle answers and 32 allowed guesses; the answer set is much narrower than the guess set.
• When solving, test the unknown first, second, and fourth letters rather than assuming every match is a likely answer.
• A-ending matches are especially constrained: the U-third pattern ending in S has 181 words, compared with 32 ending in A.
• For a board game, THUJA leads with 15 points, but its unfamiliar spelling makes it risky in games with stricter word lists.