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

A T in fifth place puts it right before a two-letter ending, and -ED takes it 13 times. The only other big group is the -TCH quartet, which supplies the three highest scores on the page. Between them, those two groups explain 17 of the 33 words.

The 33 words in brief

• -TED: UNDATED, UNRATED, UPRATED, UNMATED, UNMUTED, UNNOTED, UNBATED, UNSATED, UNGATED, UNACTED, UNCITED, UNMETED and UPDATED.
• -TCH: UPCATCH, UNHITCH, UNLATCH and UNWITCH.
• -TLY and -TTY: UNFITLY, UNAPTLY and UNWITTY.
• Lists: Collins takes 31, NWL2023 takes 24, ENABLE takes 21.
• Average score: 10.4 points.

Why do the -TCH words score best?

UPCATCH tops the page at 16 because it holds two 3-point Cs, a 4-point H and a 3-point P. UNHITCH and UNWITCH follow at 15, and UNLATCH scores 12.

Outside that group, UNFITLY and UNWITTY reach 13 on the strength of their Y, which is worth 4. Every other word falls below those marks, so a single high tile decides the board.

What other endings appear?

S closes 5 words: UPDATES, UPRATES, UNBITTS, UNMUTES and UVEITIS. R closes 3, namely UNMITER, UPDATER and UNWATER, and N closes 2 with UNOFTEN and UNEATEN.

Y adds UNFITLY, UNWITTY and UNAPTLY. UNMITER and UNMITRE are spelling twins that differ only in the order of the last two letters. UPDATED and UPDATES are the only common words on the page, so look there first when your rack holds U, P, D and A.

Which of these are Collins-only?

Nine words are: UNBITTS, UNCITED, UNMETED, UNOFTEN, UNVITAL, UNWATER, UNWITCH, UNWITTY and UPCATCH. The top scorer is on that list, so the 16-point play is not available in every game. Check your game's word list first, because NWL2023 and ENABLE both drop it along with UNWITCH, while UNHITCH and UNLATCH stay in every list.