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

With F in sixth place, the last letter does most of the sorting. S closes five words, T closes five, and Y and E close one each. UPSHIFT and UNCUFFS lead the scores at 15, and the average across all twelve is 12.2, which is a tight band to play in.

The full list by ending

• -FS words (5): UNCUFFS, UNDEAFS, UNROOFS, UNSELFS and UNTURFS.
• -FT words (5): UPSHIFT, UNSHIFT, UPDRAFT, UNCLEFT and UNSTUFT.
• One each: UNDEIFY ends in -FY and UNRUFFE ends in -FE.
• None of the twelve ranks as a common English word.

Which word has the highest score?

UNCUFFS and UPSHIFT tie at 15 points. UNDEIFY follows at 14, then UNSHIFT, UPDRAFT and UNRUFFE at 13.

UNCUFFS and UNRUFFE both carry a double F, in fifth and sixth place. The other ten words have a single F.

Two words, UNCUFFS and UNRUFFE, have a double F, and the pair gives UNCUFFS its 15. UPSHIFT gets there with a P, a H and two Fs and Ts around the middle of the word.

How are the 12 words built?

The prefix UN- starts ten of the twelve and UP- starts only UPSHIFT and UPDRAFT. S is the third letter in four words: UPSHIFT, UNSHIFT, UNSELFS and UNSTUFT.

That -SHIFT pair is the easiest family to remember. Swap UN- and UP- and the word stays valid, and both versions are accepted in Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE.

Which of the 12 can you play?

Collins accepts all 12, NWL2023 accepts 6 and ENABLE accepts 5. The five that work everywhere are UNCUFFS, UNROOFS, UNSHIFT, UPDRAFT and UPSHIFT.

UNCLEFT adds a sixth in NWL2023, which leaves six Collins-only entries: UNDEAFS, UNDEIFY, UNRUFFE, UNSELFS, UNSTUFT and UNTURFS.

A Collins player can reach for UNDEIFY at 14 points. Everyone else should keep to UNCUFFS and UPSHIFT, which score 15 and are valid in every list.