7-letter words with B as the 1st letter and G as the 5th letter

Five slots stay open in a B _ _ _ G _ _ frame, and 39 words fill them across the major dictionaries. BROUGHT, BRIDGES and BLOGGER are the ones most players will recognise. Most of the rest, such as BEDIGHT and BROLGAS, belong on Scrabble racks rather than in conversation.

B first and G fifth at a glance

• 39 words fit: 36 in Collins, 29 in NWL2023 and 18 in ENABLE.
• S ends 12 words, D ends 9 and R ends 7.
• Only 4 of the 39 sit among the 25,000 most common English words.
• BEHIGHT tops the scores at 16 points, ahead of BEDIGHT on 14.
• BRAGGED, BLINGED and BRIDGED end in -GED, one source of the nine D endings.

Which endings should you test first?

Start with the final letter, since it splits the list fastest. S closes 12 of the 39 words, including BRIDGES, BODEGAS and BELUGAS, and D closes 9 more. Together that is 21 of 39, a little over half.

A doubled G is another quick test. BLOGGER, BRAGGED, BLOGGED and BLAGGED all repeat the letter. Then look at the second letter: R opens BROUGHT, BRIDGES and BRAGGED, while L opens BLOGGER, BLINGED and BLUDGER.

R takes seven, with BLOGGER and BRAGGER, and T takes five, with BROUGHT and BEDIGHT. A, E, M and N share the last six words.

Which of these words score well in Scrabble?

BEHIGHT scores 16, the highest here, followed by BEDIGHT on 14. BROUGHT, BHANGRA, BLOWGUN and BENIGHT all score 13, so a familiar word gives up only a few points against the obscure ones.

Only four of the 39 words are common in everyday English, so most of the list is specialist vocabulary. Collins accepts 36 words but ENABLE only 18, so check your game’s word list before you play BEHIGHT or BROLGAS.