7-letter words with U as the 2nd letter and O as the 4th letter

The _ U _ O _ _ _ frame looks sparse, yet it hides two tidy families. One is the AUTO- prefix, and the other is a run of verb-plus-particle compounds like BUYOUTS and CUTOFFS. Add the British -OUR spellings and most of the list is covered.

The U-O frame in brief

• S closes 41 words, L closes 7, and R closes 6.
• A opens 16 words, R opens 10, and B opens 8.
• BUXOMLY scores 21, with JUDOKAS and HUZOORS at 19.
• Only 4 matches are common words: RUMOURS, AUTOPSY, RUMORED and TUMOURS.

What does the AUTO- prefix give you?

Twelve words: AUTOBUS, AUTOPSY, AUTOCAR, AUTOMAT, AUTOMAN, AUTOMEN, AUTOING, AUTOCUE, AUTONYM, AUTOPEN, AUTOPUT and AUTOVAC. Together they explain why A is the top opener, with 16 words.

T is the third letter in 20 words overall, exactly twice as many as the runner-up, M, with 10, and C follows with 8. A guess that puts T third is therefore the strongest single bet. AUTO- supplies 12 of those 20, which is more than half.

Which compound nouns end in -OUTS or -OFFS?

Seven end in -OUTS: RUBOUTS, DUGOUTS, BUGOUTS, RUNOUTS, CUTOUTS, PUTOUTS and BUYOUTS. Five end in -OFFS: RUBOFFS, RUNOFFS, CUTOFFS, PUTOFFS and BUYOFFS.

All twelve pair a short verb that has U second with OUT or OFF, which places O fourth. If your rack holds an F pair or an O-U-T cluster, test these before anything else.

A third small group ends in -ORAL: SUBORAL, SUDORAL, HUMORAL, TUMORAL and AURORAL. They are rare, but five similar words that all keep U second and O fourth make a pattern worth remembering. DUGONGS and BUGONGS belong to a separate -ONGS pair.

Do British spellings count?