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

An X in fifth place leaves just two letters after it, and the dictionaries fill them almost entirely with ED or ES. The pattern is a prefix-verb pair: UN- plus a verb that ends in X, then a suffix. Because X is worth 8 points, every entry scores well above an ordinary seven-letter play.

Key facts about the 15 words

• NWL2023 accepts 14 of them, ENABLE 12 and Collins 13.
• None of the 15 ranks among the 25,000 most common English words.
• The average score is 16.1, driven by the 8-point X in every word.
• Four words tie at 18 points: UNFIXED, UNVEXED, UNWAXED and UNVAXED.
• Last letters: D for 8 words, S for 6 and E for 1.

How do -XED and -XES words differ?

Eight words end in -XED, led by UNBOXED, UNFIXED, UNMIXED, UNTAXED, UNVEXED and UNWAXED. The third-person verb forms end in -XES, and five exist, including UNBOXES, UNFIXES, UNMIXES and UNTAXES.

That is 13 of the 15. The last two, URTEXTS and URTEXTE, are forms of URTEXT, meaning an original version of a text, and end in -TS and -TE instead.

Which words does NWL2023 accept that Collins does not?

Two: UNVAXED and URTEXTE are valid in NWL2023 but missing from Collins. This is unusual, since Collins is normally the bigger list.

UNTAXES goes the other way and is accepted by Collins only. If your table uses a North American dictionary, UNVAXED is a legal 18-point play, but in a Collins game it will be challenged.

URTEXTE is the same kind of case, valid in NWL2023 alone. Check which list your game uses before you spend an X on either one.

Scoring tip