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

The letter in fourth place sorts this frame quickly. R gives 16 words, I gives 11, and N and A give 8 each, which leaves only a handful of E and T words. The -URN- family is the largest, and it includes two of the four common words.

Counts for U third and N fifth

• Collins has 52 of the 53 words, NWL2023 has 41 and ENABLE has 37, which is a modest gap.
• Four are common: JOURNAL, JOURNEY, STUNNED and SHUNNED.
• S opens 14 words and E opens 7, with C on 6 and T on 4.
• S ends 20, while D, R and Y end 7 each and L ends 5.
• The average score is 11.5, helped by EQUINOX at 23.

Which words use -URN- in 7-letter words with U 3rd and N 5th?

JOURNAL, JOURNEY, TOURNEY, MOURNED, CHURNED, SPURNED, DIURNAL and MOURNER make up the practical core. The family is worth about 30 percent of the frame, since 16 of the 53 words use it.

Rarer members include BOURNES, DHURNAS, JOURNOS and STURNUS. Those are valid only in selected dictionaries, so weigh them against your game.

The sixth letter helps too: E sits there in 25 of the 53 words, as in MOURNED, TOURNEY and STUNNED, so an E in sixth place is a strong sign.

What about the -UIN- and -UNN- words?

The -UIN- words are the Scrabble prizes. EQUINOX scores 23, SQUINCH 21, and SQUINTY and SQUINNY 19 each, because every one of them holds a 10-point Q. SQUINTS follows at 16.

-UNN- gives STUNNED, SHUNNED, STUNNER and SHUNNER, plus TRUNNEL, CHUNNEL and CHUNNER. The doubled N is the quickest tell, and it appears in 8 of the 53 words.

Spotting -UAN- and -UEN-