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Words from Australia

The land down under is not backward in adding its own unique stamp to the language. Here are a few Australian words that have made it in, with meanings that give clues to what preoccupies our antipodean cousins: ARVO afternoon BIFFO fighting… Read More

Looking out for compound words

A good way of spotting bonus-scoring words on your rack – and one that sometimes works well with the less common letters – is to look for compound words; two words joined together to form a new word with the meaning of both. They often add up to a handy… Read More

‘Hooks’ to hang your words on

In the same way that you can hang your coat on a hook, you can also use hooks to “hang” your words on to in Scrabble. When a word is played, have a quick think as to whether a single letter can be placed before or after it to form… Read More

Using the letter I

The I is similar to the A in that it is usually useful to have one of them, but their value goes down steeply once you get more than one. In contrast to the handy AA, EE and… Read More

What about tricky adjectives?

In case it’s a while since you have been to school (or you just weren’t paying attention when you were there), an adjective is a word that describes a noun. A tall man, a clever woman, a tricky adjective. You can generally add -ER and -EST to adjectives that are… Read More

Verbs in Scrabble

There are words you can play even though they are probably not shown in a dictionary (though they will be in Collins Official Scrabble Words). Verbs, for instance, can generally have S, ED or ING added to them. So PRINT can become PRINTS,… Read More

Nouns and plurals

You will notice words like GRANITES in the word list and may wonder whether you can really have a plural of GRANITE. ‘What are those rocks over there?’ ‘Oh, they’re granites’, just doesn’t sound right, right? Wrong. The rule is that all nouns can have a plural unless… Read More

Using the letter H

The best way to use an H is usually to make one of the many two-letter words it appears in – or rather, to make two, thus scoring it both ways, preferably on a premium square. The twos with an H are: AH exclamation of surprise or pleasure… Read More

K-words from New Zealand

New Zealand has made a few additions to the language, mainly Māori words which have been absorbed into English, or they have in New Zealand anyway, all adding richness to our Scrabble game vocabulary. Most of these words contain a K, which can be an awkward letter. These words can… Read More