7-letter words with U as the 1st letter and S as the 3rd letter

Two prefixes cover the list almost completely. UNS gives 89 words and UPS gives 35, which leaves a single outsider, ULSTERS. The scores climb when a Z is involved: UPSIZED earns 19, and its cousins UPSIZES and UNSIZED reach 18 and 17.

Key figures for U _ S _ _ _ _

• Collins covers 124 of the 125, with NWL2023 at 81 and ENABLE at 72.
• Top scorers: UPSIZED 19, UPSIZES 18, UNSIZED 17, UNSHOWY 16 and UPSHIFT 15.
• Last letters: S closes 30, E closes 18, T closes 17 and D closes 16.
• Common words: UPSCALE and UPSTATE.
• The mean score is 10.5.

Is UNS or UPS the bigger group?

UNS wins by a wide margin: 89 words against 35, roughly seven in ten. Typical UNS entries are UNSIZED, UNSHOWY, UNSTOCK, UNSNECK, UNSMOTE and UNSUITS, built by putting UN- in front of a verb that starts with S.

UPS runs more to physical motion and size, as in UPSIZED, UPSIZES, UPSHIFT, UPSCALE and UPSTATE. The 35 words are about a quarter of the page, but they hold two of its three highest scores.

Which endings should you look for?

S is first with 30, E follows with 18, T has 17 and D has 16. Eleven of the D words are -ED forms, and the pattern has only two -ING words.

K closes 8 and L closes 7. UNSTOCK and UNSNECK are K words, and UPSCALE brings an E to the end.

How many of these words does each dictionary accept?

Only one word is missing from Collins. The American lists are far stricter, with 81 words in NWL2023 and 72 in ENABLE, so roughly 40 percent of the page drops out under ENABLE. UNSHALE and UNSTUFT are Collins-only, so check your game's word list before building a play around them.

Seven tiles in a turn earn the 50-point Scrabble bingo bonus. UPSIZED at 19 is the best way to collect it if you hold the Z.