The K is a sort of semi-power tile. At five points, it’s not worth as much as the J, Q, X and Z, but it’s worth more than anything else. It appears in four two-letter words, KA (one’s spirit or life force in Ancient Egypt), KI (vital energy), KO (a M¯aori digging stick) and KY (Scottish for cattle).
Some useful three-letter K words are:
KEA a New Zealand parrot
KEX a plant such as chervil
OKA or OKE Turkish unit of weight
SIK excellent (teenage slang – don’t you love ’em?)
TAK Scots form of take
The K goes nicely with the C to make lots of four- and five-letter words, often using another high- scoring consonant to give you the chance of a good score with just a few tiles. Think of HACK, HICK, WICK, JACK, JOCK or even ZACK, the Australian five-cents piece.
Useful sevens with the one-point tiles and a K include TANKIES (slang term for British Communists) and ARKITES (passengers in an ark).
By Barry Grossman
Barry is a leading UK Scrabble player and winner of several tournaments. He is the author of Scrabble for Beginners (Chambers), Need to Know Scrabble, Scrabble – Play to Win and The Little Book of Scrabble Trickster. He has also contributed to numerous other books on the subject of words and word-games, has been a series champion of Channel 4’s Countdown, and has written four comedy series for BBC Radio 4. He lives in Hertford.
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