7-letter words with U as the 3rd letter and A as the 4th letter

UA is the back half of QUA, and that is why this list scores so well. Nineteen words open SQU-, eight open EQU- and five open AQU-, which accounts for 32 of the 46. The average score of 15.9 reflects a 10-point Q in most of them.

Counts and top scores for U-A words

• 46 words fit: Collins 44, NWL2023 38, ENABLE 33.
• 6 are common: USUALLY, EQUALLY, SQUARES, AQUATIC, SQUARED and EQUATOR.
• SQU- opens 19, EQU- opens 8 and AQU- opens 5.
• SQUAWKY scores 26, SQUAWKS and SQUABBY 23, and the average is 15.9.
• S ends 17 words and Y ends 11, which makes -LY adverbs like USUALLY and EQUALLY easy to spot.

Which SQU- words are worth knowing?

SQUARES and SQUARED are the common pair, and SQUALID, SQUALOR, SQUALLS and SQUASHY are familiar even if they rank lower. SQUABBY scores 23 and is valid in Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE alike.

Several SQU- entries are Collins-only curiosities: SQUAWKY, SQUACCO, SQUAILS and SQUAMES. SQUAWKY makes 26, the highest on the page, but only Collins accepts it.

What do the EQU-, AQU- and other words add?

EQUALLY scores 19 and EQUABLY 21, and both are accepted everywhere. EQUATOR, EQUATES, EQUATED and EQUALED give four more at 16 or 17 points. AQUATIC scores 18, and AQUARIA and AQUAVIT reach 16 and 19, so the AQU- family is worth a check on any rack with a spare Q.

The words outside Q are USUALLY, TRUANCY, TRUANTS, GOUACHE and IGUANAS, and none scores above 13. USUALLY is the only everyday one, so a rack without Q rarely finds much here.

A warning about the top scorer