7-letter words with U as the 1st letter and E as the 4th letter

The EA core is the first thing to notice: UNHEARD, UNLEARN, UNLEASH, UPHEAVE and UPBEATS all contain it. A final S closes 43 words and a final D closes 15, so a plural or past tense is the safe assumption. ENABLE players get only 56 of the 101.

Pattern facts for U _ _ E _ _ _

• ENABLE has 56 of the 101 words, NWL2023 has 62 and Collins has 99.
• Six are common English: URGENCY, UNHEARD, UNLEASH, UTTERLY, UNDERGO and UTTERED.
• UNVEXED leads at 18 points, and five words reach 15 or more.
• The prefix UN- starts 67 words, UP- starts 18 and UR- starts 7.

Which letter goes after the E?

A leads with 35 words, including UNBEARS, UNMEANT, UNTEACH, UPREACH and UNWEAVE. R follows with 14 (UNDERGO, UNNERVE, UTTERED, UTTERLY, UNMERRY), L has 11, N has 8 and E has 6.

X turns up in five words: UNVEXED, URTEXTS, URTEXTE and two others. It is rare but expensive, which is why UNVEXED tops the scores at 18.

The third letter is less helpful, since S, H, T and B each hold 11 to 13 words. Use the fifth letter first if you can.

What do these words end in?

43 end in S, and the commonest tails are -TS and -LS with 9 words each. UNBELTS, UNSEATS, UPBEATS and UNTENTS finish in -TS.

14 words end in -ED, among them UTTERED, USHERED, ULCERED and UNVEXED. Nine end in Y, including UTTERLY, URGENCY, UNREADY and UNWEARY.

Smaller endings are T and E (9 words each), H (5) and O (3). None is worth guessing before S or D. A guess at the last letter pays off best when you also know the prefix.

Dictionary warning