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

Six stems account for a large share of this list. UNTR gives eleven words, USUR and UNDR give seven each, and UPDR, UPBR and UMBR give six each. Add the S and E endings that close 41 of the 79 and the whole page becomes manageable.

What the 79 words have in common

• Collins accepts 77, NWL2023 accepts 51 and ENABLE accepts 48.
• Everyday words: UPGRADE, UNARMED and UPFRONT.
• Top scores: UNCRAZY 21, UNFROZE 19, UNFROCK 16, then UPBREAK and UPBROKE at 15.
• Endings: S closes 25 words, E closes 16 and D closes 11.
• Average score: 10.8 points.

Which stems should you learn?

UNTR is the biggest: UNTREAD, UNTRIMS, UNTRUER, UNTRACE, UNTRACK, UNTRIDE, UNTRIED, UNTRUTH, UNTRULY, UNTRUST and UNTRUSS. The UP- stems come next, with UPDRAGS, UPDRAWN, UPDRAWS, UPDRAFT, UPDRIED and UPDRIES under UPDR, and UPBRAID, UPBRAST, UPBRAYS, UPBREAK, UPBRING and UPBROKE under UPBR.

USUR supplies USURERS, USURPED, USURPER, USURIES, USURESS, USURING and USUROUS, while UMBR supplies UMBRAGE, UMBRELS, UMBRERE, UMBRILS, UMBROSE and UMBROUS.

Why do UNCRAZY and UNFROZE score so high?

Both carry a Z. UNCRAZY gets 10 for the Z, 4 for the Y and 3 for the C, which adds up to 21. UNFROZE gets 10 for the Z and 4 for the F, which gives 19.

UNFROCK, UPBREAK and UPBROKE show the K at work, since it is worth 5.

S closes 25 of the words, nearly a third, so a rack with S and E has plenty of options. Only 7 words end in -ED, which means plurals and bare verbs outnumber past tenses by a wide margin. UNBROKE and UNWRITE are bare forms, and UNFREES and UNDRAWS are the plural-style verbs.

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