Scrabble is a game that tests both your word knowledge and your relationship with the letter J. A rousing game of Scrabble often requires you to dig deep into your bag of tricks (or a thesaurus) to come up with rare and unusual words to maximize that triple word bonus.
But sometimes you need just a little bit more help. What if you have a rack full of vowels? What if you’re stuck with a Q and there isn’t a letter U in sight? What is a person to do when they’re being bullied by the letters X and Z? If these problems and others are making your Scrabble games a nightmare, the following words may be just what you need to grab V-I-C-T-O-R-Y (15 points) from the jaws of D-E-F-E-A-T (10 points).
While the words you’re about to read will be a big help, you can’t play them all the time. If you need a hand getting out of a specific Scrabble game, our Scrabble word finder has got you covered! Enter the letters on your tiles and see all your A-M-A-Z-I-N-G (19 points) options!
Words that use vowels
Vowels won’t earn you a lot of points, so they may pile up in your rack. If you need to dump vowels, here are some words to try.
aalii, 5 points
The word aalii comes from a Hawaiian name for a bushy shrub found in tropical areas.
eerie, 5 points
The word eerie describes something as being uncanny to the point of causing superstitious fear.
sauna, 5 points
Don’t sweat the vowels and bust out the word sauna, a name for a bath that uses steam and heated stones to make people sweat.
utopia, 8 points
The word utopia, which refers to a perfect or ideal state, will help you reach the promised land free of vowels.
Words that use consonants
We’ve dealt with the vowels, so it’s time for the consonants. As you might expect, the letter Y is going to be busy.
nymph, 15 points
In mythology, nymphs are nature spirits that resemble young maidens. In more general usage, the word nymph is used to poetically describe young women and not-so-poetically used to refer to young forms of certain insects.
pygmy, 16 points
The word pygmy refers to any thing that is notably small for its kind and is capitalized in anthropology when referring to several different groups of people known to have small stature.
flybys, 17 points
If you watch a major sporting event, you likely know that the word flyby refers to a flight that passes by a particular position or target.
xylyl, 18 points
No, a cat didn’t walk across the keyboard. The word xylyl is used as a modifier to mean that something contains or is related to the compound xylene.
Short words with valuable letters
If some tricky letters have you in a tough spot, here are some short words you can use as a lifeline.
za, 11 points
The slang za is a shortening of pizza, a food that goes great with pineapple according to people we want absolutely nothing to do with.
qi, 11 points
According to traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy, qi—also known as chi—is the vital life force that flows through our body. This word is commonly played when someone has a pesky Q as it only requires an open I.
wiz, 15 points
You shall not pass … your turn without knowing the word wiz is a shortening of the word wizard.
zax, 19 points
The word zax doesn’t refer to an alien planet, but a hatchet-like tool used by roofers.
jeez, 20 points
Aw, jeez! The word jeez is an interjection used to express emotions like frustration or disappointment.
Q words without U
Most of the time, the letter Q refuses to go anywhere without its best bud U tagging along. However, there are some helpful words absent a U that you can use to get that pesky Q out of your hair.
qadi, 14 points
In the Muslim community, a qadi is a judge who bases their decisions on Islamic religious law.
qintar, 15 points
A qintar, or qindar, is a coin used as money in Albania.
niqab, 16 points
A niqab is a veil worn by some Muslim women that covers the entire face except for the eyes. It can be worn with a hijab, which is a word worth a respectable 17 points itself.
faqir, 17 points
Faqir is a variant spelling of the word fakir, a term for a mendicant monk in Islam and Hinduism.
qwerty, 21 points
The keyboard lovers among us know that the word qwerty refers to a keyboard that uses a traditional key arrangement that uses Q, W, E, R, T, and Y as the first six keys beginning from the top left.
These eight Scrabble rules most people don’t know may give you an advantage during your next game.
The highest scoring words ever
Not satisfied with second best? Here are some of the highest-scoring moves ever performed in a game of Scrabble.
muzjiks, 128 points
The word muzjiks, which refers to Russian peasants, holds the record for the highest opening move ever recorded and is, according to the rules, the highest scoring opener that is possible. Interestingly, the single recorded muzjiks opener was only worth a paltry 126 points because it used a blank tile, so the coveted 128 point opener still hasn’t yet been achieved.
freezing, 329 points
The word freezing is by far the least likely on this list to make you reach for a dictionary. Freezing is used as an adjective to mean something is extremely cold.
defuzing, 332 points
As much as some of you spelling puritans may disagree, the word defuze is an accepted alternate spelling of defuse.
quixotry, 365 points
The fancy word quixotry is sometimes used as a synonym of quixotism, meaning an impractically extravagant notion or idea. Literature fans likely know that both words were inspired by the bane of windmills everywhere, Don Quixote.
caziques, 392 points
As of now, the highest-scoring word ever played in an actual game of Scrabble is caziques. A cazique, or more commonly cacique, is a term for the chief of an Indigenous clan or tribe in Mexico and the West Indies.
oxyphenbutazone, 1778 points
Oxyphenbutazone is an anti-inflammatory drug and a recognized word in the Scrabble dictionary. It is theorized to be the highest scoring legal word that would actually fit on a Scrabble board. However, entire galaxies worth of stars would need to align in order to actually play this behemoth of a word in a game of Scrabble.
Play the (vocab) game
Feeling inspired to learn new words? Make a game of this word list, and click here to play spelling and definition games that will help you memorize these terms. You’ll be a Scrabble wiz in no time!
