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

Words in the frame _ U _ _ _ _ L are mostly adjectives and compound nouns, so they tend to look familiar. Three families do most of the work: the -RAL ending, the -FUL ending and the OUT- opening. Together with the -ALL and -ELL endings, they explain the bulk of the list.

Facts on U-second, L-last words

• O opens 18 words, S opens 12, B opens 8, and C, F and L open 6 each.
• Collins accepts 100 of the 102, NWL2023 accepts 84 and ENABLE accepts 79.
• QUETZAL scores 25, JUGSFUL 18 and JUVENAL 17.
• 7 matches are common words, including MUSICAL, FUNERAL, FULFILL and HURTFUL.

Which endings turn up most often?

-RAL leads with 16 words: FUNERAL, NUMERAL, HUMERAL, AUGURAL and AURORAL. -FUL follows with 15, such as HURTFUL, LUSTFUL, DUTIFUL and PUSHFUL. Seven end in -ALL, among them GUMBALL, FURBALL and OUTFALL, and seven end in -ELL, such as OUTSELL and BURRELL.

Those four endings make 45 of the 102 words. If a clue suggests an adjective, -FUL and -RAL are the first to test. The leftovers include SUNDIAL and NUPTIAL, which end in -IAL, and TURMOIL.

Which OUT- words end in L?

All 18 O-words in the frame begin with OUT-. OUTFALL, OUTSELL, OUTYELL, OUTCALL, OUTPULL, OUTSAIL and OUTROLL are the ones most players can place, and most end in -ALL or -ELL.

OUT- plus a four-letter verb ending in L is a dependable recipe, even for words you have not seen before. It is also the quickest way to build a play from a rack that holds O, U and T together with a doubled L.

The one big scorer