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

CH is the engine of this list. In 50 of the 99 words it sits right in the middle, and the endings -ES, -ED and -ER close almost all of them. The average score is 14.5, which is high, because H is worth 4 and Q and Z words cluster here.

The ?U??H?? set in numbers

• The dictionaries disagree widely: Collins has 94, NWL2023 has 65 and ENABLE has 56.
• Seven are common: FURTHER, PUNCHED, BUTCHER, PUNCHES, GUNSHOT, LUNCHES and SULPHUR.
• Points per word average 14.5, with QUICHED out in front on 22.
• Endings favour S (40 words), then D (19), R (14) and E (9).
• Openers favour B (17 words), M (14) and Q (10).

Why does C come fourth in half the words?

The CH digraph needs few partners. UNCH gives PUNCHED, BUNCHES, LUNCHES, HUNCHED and BUNCHED, UTCH gives BUTCHER, and URCH gives LURCHED and LURCHES.

That is 50 of 99, about half. S comes next as the fourth letter with 27 words, such as QUASHED and GUNSHOT. T, G, P and K supply the remainder in small numbers, so the fourth tile settles the family.

Which endings should you try first?

-HES ends 28 words, -HED ends 17 and -HER ends 12. After them come -HAS with 9 and -HIE with 6.

Those five endings cover 72 of the 99 words. If your rack has an E and an S, start with the -CHES shapes before anything exotic. PUNCHES, LUNCHES, BUNCHES and LURCHES all fit.

Which words score best, and which are Collins only?

QUICHED scores 22 but is Collins-only. NUDZHED, QUICHES and BUQSHAS make 21 and QUASHED, NUDZHES and QUIGHTS 20, with QUIGHTS again Collins-only.

Thirty-four of the 99 fail in NWL2023, including QUASHEE, LUDSHIP, DUHKHAS and BUKSHEE. The common seven are not among them, so everyday play is safe, and the risk sits in the Q and K words.