7-letter words with A as the 1st letter and U as the 6th letter

AMATEUR, ANXIOUS, ANTIQUE, and APPLAUD are recognizable examples, but the pattern also includes less familiar words such as ARCANUM and ARBUTUS. Dictionary counts differ: Collins has 51 matches, compared with 35 in ENABLE and 37 in NWL2023. Just 6 of the 51 are classified as common, so a tournament-valid entry may still feel obscure.

At a glance: A first, U sixth

• The fixed pattern contains 51 seven-letter words across the tournament dictionaries.
• AMATEUR, ANXIOUS, ANTIQUE, and APPLAUD are familiar examples.
• AZYMOUS leads the Scrabble scores at 21 points.
• A final S is most common: 32 matches end in that letter.

7-letter words with A as the 1st letter and U as the 6th letter

Exactly 32 of the 51 words end in S, making it the clear final-letter favorite; M comes next with 6. That pattern appears in ANXIOUS, ANTIQUE, and ALUMNUS, though not every match follows it: AMATEUR ends in R, while APPLAUD ends in D.

Score-seekers should notice the unusual Y-and-Z combination in AZYMOUS, the top Scrabble scorer at 21 points. AZYGOUS reaches 20, and ALFAQUI scores 19; the more familiar ANTIQUE and AQUEOUS each score 16. The average is 10.6 points, so the top three outscore the typical entry by a wide margin.

The remaining endings are sparse: R and T each close 3 words, while E closes 2.

How does this pattern compare with other A-and-U lists?

The S-first, U-sixth pattern has 92 matches, and the C-first version has 89. Both are larger than this A-first group, which holds 51 words despite keeping U in the sixth position.

Dictionary coverage is a real limitation: Collins accepts all 51 matches, while ENABLE has 35 and NWL2023 has 37. Only 36 entries have definitions, and just 6 are common, so check your game's word list before relying on an obscure word.