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

Since K is the final tile, this frame is one of the easiest of the U family to solve. Six endings, -OCK, -ACK, -OOK, -ICK, -ARK and -ORK, cover about seven words in ten. Add the OUT- opening and the whole list sorts into a few tidy families.

Key facts about U-second, K-last words

• O opens 15 words, B and M open 8 each, and P and S open 5.
• Collins accepts 63, NWL2023 accepts 49 and ENABLE accepts 45.
• JUMBUCK scores 24, with BUYBACK, HUMMOCK and MUNTJAK at 20.
• 3 matches are common words: OUTLOOK, BULLOCK and OUTBACK.

Which endings should you learn?

-OCK is the biggest, with 19 words from BULLOCK and HUMMOCK to TUSSOCK and BURDOCK. -ACK has 7 (OUTBACK, CUTBACK, BUYBACK, RUNBACK), and -OOK, -ICK and -ARK have 5 each, such as OUTLOOK, OUTKICK and BULWARK. -ORK adds 4, including OUTWORK and CUTWORK.

All six together make 45 of the 65, about seven in ten. A double-consonant stem like MUMMOCK or RUDDOCK points to -OCK, since many -OCK words double a consonant before it: BULLOCK, HUMMOCK, DUNNOCK and TUSSOCK all do. Spot the double letter and the ending nearly writes itself.

How many words begin with OUT-?

Fifteen. OUTBACK, OUTLOOK, OUTRANK, OUTWORK, OUTKICK and OUTTALK are among them, and each takes the OUT- prefix plus a four-letter word ending in K. That is more than a fifth of the whole list in one prefix.

Next in line is MUD- with 5 words, such as MUDLARK, MUDPACK and MUDHOOK. After that the prefixes are single-use, so OUT- plus a K word is the fastest route to a legal play.

Scoring and safety