7-letter words with V as the 1st letter and O as the 5th letter

O in fifth place points straight at a few suffixes. -OUS gives 9 words, -OSE gives 5, and -ORS and -ONS give 4 each. Add the -OID trio and 25 of the 44 words fall into five endings, with S as the final letter of 22 of them.

V-and-O facts worth knowing

• Total: 44 words. Collins lists 43, NWL2023 32 and ENABLE 25.
• Common words: 6, which are VARIOUS, VICTORY, VICIOUS, VENDORS, VISIONS and VECTORS.
• Final letters: S ends 22 words, E ends 10 and D ends 5.
• Best scores: VAUDOUX and VETKOEK at 18, then VICTORY and VISNOMY at 15.
• Average score: 11.7 points.

Which words end in -OUS or -OSE?

-OUS is the biggest tail with 9: VARIOUS, VICIOUS, VISCOUS, VILLOUS, VACUOUS, VEINOUS, VALGOUS, VIDUOUS and VOUDOUS. Nearly all are adjectives, so a clue that describes something is a good place to start. VARIOUS and VICIOUS are the common pair.

-OSE holds VERBOSE, VISCOSE, VAMOOSE, VENTOSE and VILLOSE. VISCOUS and VISCOSE share VISC-O and swap their endings, which makes them an easy mix-up.

Two openings repeat. VIS- begins 5 words (VISCOID, VISCOSE, VISCOUS, VISIONS and VISNOMY) and VAR- begins 5 (VARIOLA, VARIOLE, VARIOUS, VAROOMS and VARROAS).

What about the plurals and the -OID words?

Plurals fill the other big blocks. -ORS gives VECTORS, VENDORS, VICTORS and VIATORS, and -ONS gives VISIONS, VIRIONS, VOUDONS and VELLONS. Of these, VENDORS, VECTORS and VISIONS are the common ones.

VALGOID, VESPOID and VISCOID are the -OID words. VOODOOS and VAUDOOS add a double-O ending of their own.

E closes 10 words: the five -OSE words plus VACUOLE, VARIOLE, VAIVODE, VIOLONE and VOIVODE. D closes 5, including VIDEOED and VANLOAD.

Scoring and dictionary caution