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

Almost everything here is built on SH or CH. S in third place gives 19 words, C gives 10, and T and W give 4 each. The average score of 13 makes this a rich pattern for points, and 11 words score 15 or better, so a rack with a spare H is worth a look.

What the U _ _ H _ _ _ list looks like

• Dictionary reach: all 37 words in Collins, 20 in NWL2023 and 18 in ENABLE.
• No word ranks as common English, so every entry is word-list vocabulary.
• Words most often finish in T (7), S (6) or E (5), with N and K trailing at 4 and 3 apiece.
• UNSH- is the biggest start with 16 words, then UNCH- with 7.

Which words score the most with U first and H fourth?

UPCHUCK makes 20 and UNCHECK 18. UNCHOKE and UNSHOWY follow at 16, and UNCHARY, UPSHIFT, UPTHREW, UPTHROW, UMWHILE and UNWHIPT make 15.

UPCHUCK, UNCHOKE, UNSHOWY, UNCHARY, UPSHIFT, UPTHREW and UPTHROW work in every dictionary. UNCHECK, UMWHILE and UNWHIPT do not, and a challenge in a North American game would remove them.

The TH words are the other good scorers. UPTHREW and UPTHROW tie at 15, and UNTHINK and UNTHAWS follow close behind.

Which SH and CH words are worth knowing?

The SH group includes UNSHIFT, UNSHARP, UNSHIPS, UPSHOOT, UPSHOTS, UNSHELL and UNSHORN. The CH group includes UNCHAIN, UNCHAIR, UNCHARM, UNCHILD and URCHINS.

Fifth letters split the list in a tidy way: O and I each have 10 words, A has 8 and E has 5. If you know the fifth tile, the candidates shrink to about ten at most.

Remember that UNSH- is the single biggest start, so a fixed S in third place should be your first assumption.

Dictionary warning