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

An I in sixth place usually follows an A, so the pattern leans on the endings -AIN, -AID, -AIR and -IC. No word here is common English, which makes this a list for the dedicated player. The scoring is flat apart from UMFAZIS, since the next best words are UMBONIC and UNCOMIC at 13.

The endings that repeat

• -AIN (3): UNCHAIN, UNSLAIN and UPTRAIN. -AID (3): UPBRAID, UNBRAID and UNSTAID.
• -AIR (2): UNCHAIR and UPSTAIR.
• -IC (4): UMBONIC, UNCOMIC, URAEMIC and one other.
• Fifth letter A appears in 9 of the 25 words.

Which word scores the most with U first and I sixth?

UMFAZIS scores 21, because it holds both an F and a Z. It is a Collins word only, so it cannot be played in NWL2023 or ENABLE games.

The runners-up are UMBONIC and UNCOMIC at 13, then UNCHAIN, UNCIVIL, UPBRAID and UNCHAIR at 12. The average across the pattern is 10.4, so UMFAZIS beats it by more than ten points.

Below those, UAKARIS makes 11 and ULPANIM makes 11, and UNSPLIT, UNSTRIP and UPTRAIN make 9. UTENSIL, ULNARIA and UNSLAIN fall to 7, so a tile like the F or Z is what separates a good play from an ordinary one.

Why does AI show up so often?

Nine of the 25 words have A in fifth place, so the sixth-letter I completes the AI vowel pair: UNCHAIN, UNCHAIR, UNSLAIN, UPBRAID, UNBRAID, UNPLAIT, UPSTAIR, UPTRAIN and UNSTAID. That one pair is more than a third of the pattern.

The remaining sixteen are scattered. They include UNCIVIL, UNSOLID, UNSPLIT and UTENSIL, plus the Collins entries UAKARIS and ULPANIM.

Which of these 25 words are accepted everywhere?

Seven words are Collins-only: UMFAZIS, UNWARIE, UNSTRIP, UPTRAIN, UNSTAID, ULNARIA and UNSLAIN. NWL2023 adds UAKARIS and UNCHAIR, which ENABLE lacks.

The dependable list for any game is UNCHAIN, UNCIVIL, UPBRAID, UNBRAID, UPSTAIR and UNPLAIT. UMBONIC and UNCOMIC, at 13 points, are accepted everywhere as well.