7-letter words with U as the 3rd letter and S as the 6th letter

Four endings do almost all the work here: -EST, -IST, -ISM and -ISH. Between them they cover 39 of the 53 words. If your blanks read _ _ U _ _ S _, test those four tails first, before you reach for anything exotic like KOUMISS.

The pattern at a glance

• Total: 53 words, with Collins accepting 50, NWL2023 43 and ENABLE 38.
• Common words: only 4 sit in the top 25,000 English words, namely TOURISM, TOURIST, GLUCOSE and LOUDEST.
• Last letters: T ends 25 words, H ends 11 and M ends 8.
• Top scorer: SQUOOSH at 19 points, then BRUXISM at 18 and CHUMASH at 17.
• Average score: 10.8 points.

Which endings fit U in 3rd place and S in 6th?

-EST is the biggest family with 15 words, including LOUDEST, FOULEST, CRUDEST and SOUREST. The -IST, -ISM and -ISH groups have 8 each: TOURIST and FLUTIST, TOURISM and BRUXISM, NOURISH and PRUDISH.

Those four tails make 39 words, which leaves 14 for the odd ones such as GLUCOSE, GOULASH and SQUOOSH. Fixing the seventh letter as T, H or M settles the family at once, because the S before it is already fixed.

Do these words work as Scrabble bingos?

Yes, every one of them uses seven tiles, so playing it from your rack earns the 50-point bingo bonus. The easy ones to build are TOURIST, LOUDEST and CRUDEST, which are built from common letters.

For raw tile value, look at SQUOOSH. Its Q and H push the score to 19, and BRUXISM reaches 18 on the strength of the X. Neither is common, so check your game's word list before you play them.

What this pattern is not good for