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

L in fifth place is usually the first half of a double or a consonant pair: -LL- in UPHILLS, -LD- in UPHOLDS, -LT- in UNBOLTS. Twenty-seven words end in S and 11 end in D. UNFOLDS and USUALLY are the only common ones.

What shapes this list

• -LED closes 10 words, -LLS 8, -LES 6, and -LDS and -LTS 5 each.
• Top scores: UNBULKY 16, UNWELDY 14, then UPFOLDS, UPHOLDS and UPTALKS at 13.
• Fourth letter: I in 15 words, E in 11, O in 9, U in 7.
• The average score is 10.

Which endings should you check first?

-LED words include UMBELED, UPPILED, UNBALED, UNHELED, UNPILED, UNOILED and UNRULED. -LLS words include UPHILLS, UPWELLS, UPFILLS, UNWILLS, UPROLLS, UNROLLS and UNSELLS.

-LDS gives UPFOLDS, UPHOLDS, UNFOLDS, UNMOLDS and UNGILDS, and -LTS gives UMWELTS, UNBELTS, UNBOLTS, UPTILTS and UNCOLTS. Together with -LED and -LLS, those four endings cover 28 of the 49 words.

The -LES group is smaller: UPPILES, UNPILES, UNBALES, UNHELES, UNRULES and UNTILES. Five of those six end in -ILES, -ALES or -ULES, and UNHELES is the exception.

How does the fourth letter help?

I is the fourth letter in 15 words, ahead of E with 11 and O with 9, then U with 7 and A with 5. The I group includes UPHILLS, UPFILLS, UNWILLS and UPTILTS, and the E group includes UNHELED, UPWELLS, UNBELTS and UNSELLS.

With A in 5 words and P and L in one each, the fourth letter narrows the field to about ten words in most cases.

Which words score the most?

UNBULKY makes 16, thanks to the B and K, and UNWELDY makes 14 with W and Y. UPFOLDS, UPHOLDS and UPTALKS make 13, and UMBELED, UNHELMS, UPHILLS, UPPILED and UPWELLS make 12.

UNBULKY, UPFOLDS and UPHOLDS are accepted in all three major lists, while UNWELDY and UPTALKS are not.

Dictionary awareness matters: 17 words are Collins-only, such as UNWELDY, UMWELTS, UPFILLS and UNSELFS, while UPSELLS is valid in NWL2023 but missing from Collins.