Each of the asterisks denotes a letter - whether same or different.
(01) RAIN(***)TIE
(02) SEA(****)HOLE
(03) TOOTH(*****)TALE
(04) DUNGA(***)LING
(05) CIRCUIT(*****)YARD
(06) HIGH(****)STAR
(07) STONE(****)FLOWER
Note: Plurals, proper nouns, hyphens are not allowed.