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

That split is the whole trick. Words such as ROUGHLY, LAUGHED and TOUGHER take the -UGH- shape, while PLUGGED, DRUGGED and SMUGGLE double the G. Together the two families cover 53 of the 78, so only 25 words fall outside them.

Pattern summary for U 3rd and G 4th

• Collins takes 76 of the words, NWL2023 takes 57 and ENABLE takes 54.
• 8 words are common: ROUGHLY, LAUGHED, NAUGHTY, TOUGHER, PLUGGED, DRUGGED, COUGARS and SMUGGLE.
• Last letters: D ends 19 words, S ends 17, R ends 13, Y ends 9.
• Top scorers: ZEUGMAS 19, HAUGHTY 17, FOUGHTY 17, PAUGHTY 16.
• The average score is 11.6.

Which 7-letter words with U 3rd and G 4th use GH?

Thirty carry the -UGH- core. The -ED group is LAUGHED, COUGHED and TOUGHED, and the -ER group is TOUGHER, ROUGHER and LAUGHER, with ROUGHLY, NAUGHTY and HAUGHTY as the adverbs and adjectives.

Five words end in -HTY, namely NAUGHTY, HAUGHTY, DOUGHTY, FOUGHTY and PAUGHTY. Ten end in -GED and eight in -HED, and the -GED group includes PLUGGED, DRUGGED and CHUGGED.

COUGARS, with a plain S ending, is the one common word here that belongs to neither the GH family nor the double-G family.

What are the double-G words?

The 23 double-G words include SMUGGLE, SNUGGLE and SNUGGLY, plus SLUGGER, PLUGGED and DRUGGED. If the fifth letter is also G, as in SLUGGED, you are in this family.

ZEUGMAS is the odd one out. It keeps G in fourth place but follows it with M, and its 10-point Z lifts it to 19 points, the best in the frame. It is the plural of ZEUGMA.

Where the points are