7-letter words with U as the 1st letter and I as the 5th letter

The fifth-letter I sits in the middle of some very different words. UTILIZE, UNIFIED, UTILITY, URANIUM, UTOPIAN and UNITING are the six common ones, while the rest are word-list material. UN- begins 67 of the 121, UP- begins 20 and UR- begins 18.

Pattern facts for U _ _ _ I _ _

• Dictionary reach: 78 words in ENABLE, 85 in NWL2023 and 119 in Collins.
• Top scorers: UNITIZE, UNQUIET, UTILIZE and UNISIZE at 16.
• Final letters: S ends 28 words, E ends 27, G ends 18 and T ends 15.
• The average score is 10.4.

Which words score the most?

Four words tie at 16. UNITIZE, UTILIZE and UNISIZE get there on the Z, while UNQUIET uses the Q. UPCLIMB, UPSHIFT, UMWHILE, UNWHIPT and UPWHIRL score 15.

Of those, UNITIZE, UNQUIET, UTILIZE, UPCLIMB and UPSHIFT are valid in Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE. UNISIZE is missing from ENABLE, and UMWHILE, UNWHIPT and UPWHIRL are Collins-only.

The common words score less: URANIUM makes 9, and the typical play sits near the 10.4 average. A rare Z or Q word is the way to beat it.

Which three-letter endings repeat?

-ING is the largest by far with 18 words, including UNITING, UPSWING, UNDOING, UPGOING and UNTYING. -ILS has 8 (UNVEILS, UNCOILS, UPBOILS, UPCOILS), -ITE has 6 and -IED has 5 (UNIFIED, UNTRIED, UPDRIED, UNDRIED, UNSPIED).

In the front half, L is the fourth letter in 17 words and R in 13. That makes -IL-, as in UNCLIPS and UPSKILL, and -RI-, as in URANIUM, the two shapes to try first.

The final letter also sorts the list. S ends 28 words and E ends 27, so those two cover just under half of the 121. T ends 15, with D at 9 and L at 4.

Which words should you avoid?