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

Every entry closes on M, so the useful question is what comes before it. -ISM answers it for 8 words, -IUM for 4, -GUM for 3, -BUM for 2 and -TUM for 1. TOURISM is the only common word, which makes the rest a matter of recognising the suffix.

The -M list in brief

• Sixteen words are in Collins, 15 in NWL2023 and 13 in ENABLE.
• Only TOURISM ranks among the top 25,000 English words.
• B, S, E, F and T each open 2 or 3 words, with B and S on 3 each.
• Top scorers: EXUVIUM 19, BRUXISM 18, FAUVISM, PLUMBUM and CRUMBUM 15.
• The average score is 12.6.

Which 7-letter words with U 3rd and M 7th end in -ISM?

Eight do: TOURISM, BRUXISM, FAUVISM, BRUTISM, SLUMISM, HEURISM, NEURISM and LEUCISM. The first five are accepted by Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE, while HEURISM and NEURISM are Collins-only and LEUCISM is NWL2023-only.

BRUXISM scores 18, since the X is worth 8. It is the highest-value -ISM word, ahead of FAUVISM at 15.

Pairs like BRUTISM and SLUMISM are useful because BR- and SL- are common openers, and both words are accepted in all three dictionaries.

What are the -IUM, -GUM and -BUM words?

-IUM gives THULIUM, ELUVIUM, EXUVIUM and ALUMIUM. EXUVIUM is the top scorer at 19, helped by an 8-point X and a 4-point V.

-GUM covers BLUEGUM, SLUMGUM and SOURGUM, and -BUM covers PLUMBUM and CRUMBUM. FRUSTUM is the only -TUM word, and it scores 12.

Fifteen of the 18 end in -ISM, -IUM or -GUM (8 plus 4 plus 3), so only the -BUM and -TUM words fall outside those three suffixes.

Playing safe