7-letter words with U as the 3rd letter and D as the 5th letter

This is one of the friendliest U frames for everyday vocabulary. Seventeen of the 76 words are common, and most end in -ER or -ED. The N before the D is the signature: 36 words use it, so a clue with an N in fourth place leaves a short, familiar list.

The U-third, D-fifth frame in numbers

• Collins takes all 76 words, NWL2023 has 56 and ENABLE has 53.
• 17 are common, including FOUNDED, THUNDER, LAUNDRY, BOULDER and FOUNDRY.
• -ER ends 26 words and -ED ends 16, so 42 end one of those two ways.
• SQUADDY and SQUIDGY score 21, and the average is 11.
• S opens 18 words, and C and F open 8 each.

Which UND words should you try first?

-UNDER gives FOUNDER, THUNDER, BLUNDER, PLUNDER and ASUNDER, and -OUNDED gives FOUNDED, WOUNDED, SOUNDED, ROUNDED, BOUNDED and POUNDED. Each is a clean, standard English word.

Others in the UND frame include LAUNDRY, FOUNDRY, ROUNDUP, SOUNDLY, ROUNDLY and TRUNDLE. LAUNDRY and FOUNDRY are the only common words that end in -Y.

The N is such a strong clue that a rack with N, D and U is worth testing against FOUNDED, WOUNDED and SOUNDED before anything else.

What fits when the fourth letter is not N?

The next fourth letters are D with 18 words and L with 10. The UDD group gives STUDDED, SHUDDER, THUDDED and SCUDDED, and the ULD group gives BOULDER, MOULDED, MOULDER and WOULDST.

Shudder and studded are also common, so only the rarer UDD and ULD entries need a dictionary check.

The -DLE and -DRY endings are small families: TRUNDLE, CRUDDLE, SCUDDLE and SPUDDLE take -DLE, while LAUNDRY, FOUNDRY and DRUIDRY take -DRY.

Spot the high-scoring SQU words