7-letter words with U as the 2nd letter and Y as the 6th letter

With Y in sixth place, the final letter is S for 30 of the 36 words. That makes this a plural-heavy list, and the plural is almost always -EYS or -AYS. The spelling of the stem before the Y is the only real puzzle, and only three of the words are common.

Facts on the U-second, Y-sixth frame

• 36 words fit: Collins accepts 33, NWL2023 32, ENABLE 25.
• Only 3 are common: SURVEYS, TURKEYS and RUNWAYS.
• -EYS ends 18 words and -AYS ends 9; S closes 30 in all.
• BUCKEYE and KUMBAYA score 18 each, and the average is 13.1.
• B opens 7 words, while O and P open 4 each.

Which words end in -EYS?

Exactly half the list, and the largest ending by far. SURVEYS, TURKEYS, PULLEYS, GURNEYS, GULLEYS and PURVEYS are the recognisable ones, with MURREYS, BURLEYS and PUNKEYS as variants you will see only in word lists.

Doubled-L stems are common, as in PULLEYS, GULLEYS and MULLEYS. HUNKEYS and KURVEYS score 17, and both add the 5-point K or the 4-point V on top of the Y.

What about -AYS and the single words?

-AYS gives RUNWAYS, SUBWAYS, OUTLAYS, SUNRAYS and HURRAYS, and SUBWAYS scores 15 as the best of them. BUSBOYS takes the -OYS ending, and OUTBUYS takes -UYS, so the vowel before Y is worth checking after A and E. Together those four endings cover all 30 words that end in S.

BUCKEYE and KUMBAYA are the singles that do not end in S. BUCKEYE is valid in all three major lists, and KUMBAYA in NWL2023 only. Neither fits an S-ending clue, so rule that out first if your clue gives the last letter.

Which words need a dictionary check?