7-letter words with U as the 2nd letter and A as the 4th letter

This pattern reads ?U?A???, so the vowels sit one letter apart and a consonant fills the gap. That consonant is R in 39 words and T in 23, which is why CURATOR, MUTATED and LUNATIC appear so quickly. It is a long, low-scoring list, averaging just 10.7 points per word, and only a few of its words are everyday vocabulary.

Quick facts on U in 2nd and A in 4th

• Collins accepts 150 of the 152, NWL2023 accepts 106 and ENABLE accepts 95.
• Seven words are common: DURABLE, CURATOR, RUNAWAY, CURATED, LUNATIC, MUTANTS and MUTATED.
• S opens 20 words, while M and C open 16 each.
• QUEACHY tops the scores at 24, then SUBAQUA at 18.
• S is the last letter of 59 words, more than any other ending.

Which endings turn up most often?

Verb endings dominate. Ten words end in -ATES and eight in -ATED, among them CURATED, CURATES, MUTATED, MUTATES and PUPATED, and another eight end in -ABLE, such as DURABLE, CURABLE, MUTABLE and TUNABLE.

Adverbs add 10 words ending in -LY, including HUMANLY and JURALLY. Many of the 59 S-endings are plurals like MUTANTS and OUTAGES, so a spare S is worth holding.

Which three-letter openings should you check first?

CUR- leads with 11 words, MUT- follows with 9 and SUB- has 8. DUR- has 5 and SUD- has 4.

Those five openings cover 37 of the 152 words, which makes them a quick first filter. If your third tile is R, CURA- and DURA- give CURATOR, CURABLE and DURABLE straight away.

How many of these words are Collins only?

Collins takes 150 words against 106 for NWL2023, so a big block of the list belongs only to Collins players. SUBAQUA and QUEACHY are in that block, and neither passes in North American play.

JURALLY and HUMANLY are safe in every list, along with JUDASES at 15 points.

Build -ATED or -ATES endings first if your rack holds A, T and E. CURATED, MUTATED and PUPATED score modestly, but they use up letters cleanly.