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

Only 39 matches carry a U in the third square and a Y in the last, making ??U?Y one of the thinnest third-letter frames that end in Y. The same shape with N reaches 141 words and with R, 137, so a green U mid-word is a narrow clue. Just three matches count as everyday words, though six appear on the Wordle answer list.

??U?Y at a glance

• Thirty-nine matches, and every one ends in -Y.
• MAUZY on 19 and GAUZY on 18 lead the scoring.
• Six matches are Wordle answers; only three are common words.
• Collins lists 37 and NWL2023 26 of the 39.
• G opens six matches, S five and M four.

Which first letters start the U-third words?

G is the busiest opener with six matches, S supplies five and M four. B, D, F and T each begin three, C trails on two, and that covers the whole set.

The G group behaves as one family. GAUDY, GAUZY, GAUMY, GAUCY, GLUEY and GOUTY all bolt a final Y onto a noun stem, and several differ by a single letter. When the middle square shows U and the last shows Y, the first tile is the only real branch left to test.

Z words carry the high scores

MAUZY tops the table at 19 points, GAUZY follows on 18, and AZURY and TOUZY tie on 17. Each turns on a Z worth 10 in Scrabble, and DRUXY on 16 is the only other match above 15.

No match uses J, Q or X, so Z and Y do all the lifting and the average settles at 11.1. Dictionary cover is the catch: MAUZY and MAUSY appear only in NWL2023, so the top scorer is unplayable in Collins-only games.

The -USY tail worth remembering