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The letter N

The N, being one of the one-point tiles, clearly figures in a lot of bonus words. You can think of dozens of words beginning with EN-, IN-, CON-, UN- and other prefixes. It comes up in endings like -MAN, -MENT, -TION and -ING. But just a few words of warning… Read More

Keep on the right track

Experienced players develop the habit of tile-tracking; that is, they start the game with a grid of the hundred tiles in a corner of their scoresheet, and cross them off as they are played. Doing this, you can quickly see if there are a lot of a particular letter to… Read More

You don’t get two goes in a row

We’ve mentioned in a few of these tips that it is not a good idea to place a vowel next to a premium square, or to open up a space where your opponent can get a high-scoring bonus. But why does it matter so much? Surely, you may wonder, I… Read More

The letter M

In contrast to the L, an M is nearly always worth having. It is hugely versatile for two-letter words, including the all-consonant HM and MM (you might also put MY in this category), meaning it is often easy to slip onto a triple-letter square for twenty points or more. Read More

Collins Official SCRABBLE ™ Words 2024

One of the things that makes the official Scrabble word list unique is that it constantly evolves just as language does, keeping relevant to the zeitgeist (19 points!). Every few years, Scrabble game enthusiasts around the world get excited as the next update to our list of permissible words is… Read More

The letter L

The L is the least good of the one-point tiles. It’s OK, but not as strong as N, R, S and T for making bonus words. It doesn’t turn up in many common prefixes or suffixes either – there is ‘like’, but there is only one K so it won’t… Read More

Spoilt for Choice

If you can fit two or more anagrams on the board, then you can look at other factors to decide which to play. Score: Does one hit a double- or triple-word square, or get a higher-scoring tile on a double- or triple-letter square? Vowel position: Does one put a vowel… Read More

Words from Canada

The Canadians are of a leisurely disposition, going by some of the words they have given to English: BEIGNET a deep-fried pastry BOGAN a sluggish side-stream LOGAN a backwater POUTINE chips topped with curd… Read More

How do you spell that?

Some words can be spelled in so many ways that it’s hard to get them wrong (or right). The small cap worn by Jewish men can be spelt YAMALKA, YAMULKA, YARMELKE, YARMULKA and YARMULKE. Quite why you can’t have, say, a yarmalka… Read More