7-letter words with U as the 2nd letter and D as the 6th letter

A D in sixth place means the word ends in one more letter, and that last letter is almost always S or E. The fifth letter is the real clue: I sits there in more than half the words, creating the -IDE, -IDS and -IDY families. The group is short, so it rewards memory.

What defines the 35 words

• Collins lists 34, NWL2023 lists 27 and ENABLE lists 25.
• Four words are common: OUTSIDE, SUICIDE, CUSTODY and SUBSIDY.
• The average score is 11.7, and QUOMODO tops it at 19.
• Last letters: S for 16 words, E for 11, and A and Y for 3 each.
• S opens 9 words, and O opens 7.

Which endings cover most of the list?

I is the fifth letter of 19 of the 35 words, a little over half. That produces 9 words ending in -IDS and 6 ending in -IDE, among them OUTSIDE, SUICIDE, SULFIDE, SUBSIDE and NUCLIDE.

-ODE adds 4 words, such as OUTMODE and SUBCODE, and -IDY adds 2, SUBSIDY and RUBBIDY. Several of the -IDS words are plurals, like CUBOIDS and FUCOIDS, so a spare S is worth keeping.

Which words score the most?

QUOMODO scores 19, QUERIDA and MUSJIDS 17, and RUBBIDY, BUMWADS and FURKIDS 15 each. MUSJIDS gets there with an 8-point J and a 3-point M, and it is the plural of MUSJID, a variant of mosque.

QUOMODO, QUERIDA and MUSJIDS are valid in Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE alike, so they travel well.

What about dictionary differences?

Eight of the 35 fail in NWL2023, among them RUBBIDY, SUCCADE, FURKIDS and CUSTODE. BUMWADS goes the other way and is valid in NWL2023 but absent from Collins.

OUTSIDE, SUICIDE and SUBSIDY are accepted everywhere, and CUSTODY joins them. If you hold O, U, T and S, OUTSIDE is the easy road. It needs only I, D and E to finish.