7-letter words with U as the 2nd letter and G as the 5th letter

Nineteen words is a short list, and none of them ranks as common. The G sits in fifth place before a short ending: -ES, -EN, -OS or -HS. That makes the sixth and seventh letters your cheat sheet, and the fourth letter, A in nine of the words, the next best clue.

Everything about the 19 words

• Collins accepts all 19, NWL2023 accepts 10 and ENABLE accepts 9.
• None of the 19 is a common word.
• A typical play is worth 12.2 points, with QUAIGHS best at 20.
• S ends 12 words and N ends 4.
• Q opens 3 words, M opens 3, and N and C open 2 each.

Which endings does this pattern use?

Five words end in -GES: OUTAGES, CUBAGES, TUBAGES, FUMAGES and MURAGES. Four end in -GEN, namely MUTAGEN, LUCIGEN, MUCIGEN and HUMOGEN, and three end in -GOS, QUANGOS, GUANGOS and RUBIGOS.

Two more end in -GHS: QUAIGHS and CURAGHS. The remaining five words are NURAGHI, NURAGHE, EULOGIA, QUAGGAS and JUDOGIS. A guess at the last two letters therefore covers 14 of the 19 words, and S ends 12 of them.

Which words score the most?

QUAIGHS scores 20 and QUAGGAS 18, and QUANGOS scores 17. The three are the only words here worth 17 or more. JUDOGIS reaches 16 but only in Collins, and CURAGHS makes 13 and is valid everywhere.

The Q provides 10 points in each of the top three. Without a Q, the best you can do is JUDOGIS at 16, and that word is Collins-only.

How much of the list is safe in NWL2023?

Only 10 of the 19. GUANGOS, TUBAGES, LUCIGEN, MUCIGEN, JUDOGIS, FUMAGES, HUMOGEN, NURAGHE and NURAGHI all fail there.

OUTAGES, MUTAGEN, QUANGOS, QUAGGAS, QUAIGHS, CUBAGES, CURAGHS, RUBIGOS and EULOGIA are accepted in all three lists, and MURAGES works in NWL2023 and Collins but not in ENABLE. In a mixed game, those nine are the dependable ones.