Scrabble and Words With Friends tips

Scrabble and Words With Friends reward vocabulary, but the biggest gains come from a few habits: knowing the short words, using high-value tiles well, and managing your rack. This guide covers the basics. Use the Scrabble word finder to check what your rack can make.

Know the tile values

In Scrabble, most letters are worth 1 to 4 points: A, E, I, O, U, L, N, R, S, T are 1; D and G are 2; B, C, M and P are 3; F, H, V, W and Y are 4; K is 5; J and X are 8; Q and Z are 10. Words With Friends uses different values and a different board layout, so a play that is best in one game may not be best in the other. Wordrack shows the score for both.

Learn the two-letter words

Short words let you play alongside tiles already on the board. Wordrack's list has 89 two-letter words. The most useful are the ones with high-value letters: AX, EX, JO, KA, KI, OX, QI, XI, XU. Official dictionaries differ. The one used in North America and the Collins dictionary used elsewhere do not accept exactly the same words, so check the list for your game before relying on a close call.

Play the Q without a U

Holding a Q does not need to ruin a rack. Words that use Q without U in our list include QI, QADI, QOPH, FAQIR, QIBLA, QINTAR. QI is the most useful, as it is short and scores 11 in Scrabble. Others exist in the official dictionaries, so it is worth learning a few more.

The best short high-scoring words

Three-letter words can score a lot when they use J, Q, X or Z. High-scoring three-letter words in our list include FEZ (15), PYX (15), BIZ (14), COZ (14), KEX (14), ZAP (14), ZIP (14), FIX (13), FOX (13), HEX (13), JAW (13), JAY (13). Put a high tile on a double or triple letter square and you can beat a much longer word.

Aim for a bingo

Using all seven tiles in one turn earns a bonus: 50 points in Scrabble and 35 in Words With Friends. Racks with common letters such as E, R, S, T, A and I are the easiest to turn into seven- or eight-letter words. Keep those letters when you can, and play off the awkward ones. Try the 7 letter words list to see the shape of the words you are looking for.

Manage your rack

• Aim for a balance of vowels and consonants, roughly two or three vowels in seven tiles.
• Save an S or blank for a high-scoring play rather than spending it on a few points.
• Do not keep duplicate letters, especially awkward ones such as two Vs or two Is.
• If your rack is poor, swapping tiles can be better than playing for a few points.

Think about the board

A big play can open a triple-word square for your opponent. Before you play a long word that reaches the edge, check what it gives away. When you are ahead, close the board. When you are behind, open it.

Frequently asked questions