Beginner’s Guide to Words With Friends

New to Words With Friends? No problem! You’ve come to the right place. Words With Friends is a lot like Scrabble but way better, because you can play with your friends online, meaning you could even play from the comfort of your toilet seat, how’s that for a selling point, baazing!

But before you can play any game you need to know the rules, so let’s get to it.

Tile Placement

The first word of every game has to have at least one tile placed on the star square. Each new word formed must share at least one tile of a pre-existing word. Words can be formed horizontally (left to right) and vertically (top to bottom).

Scoring

Each letter has a set value, so for example D is worth two points, O is one point and G is three points. If you were to spell the word DOG you would earn a total of six points. There are also blank tiles, although they carry no point value they can become any letter you wish, making them very useful for completing words that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

There are also premium squares spread across the board — DL=Double Letter, TL=Triple Letter, DW=Double Word and TW=Triple Word.

Premium squares are highly sought after, they have the potential to multiply your score greatly. For example if you were to play the word AX, A is worth one point and X is 8 points, you’d only score a total of 9 points. But if the X was placed on the TL square, that would increase the value of X from 8 to 24 points, bringing you to the new total of 25 points.

If you use all 7 tiles in one turn you earn an extra 35 bonus points, this is called a bingo. Scoring bingos can adversely affect your opponent causing them to yell multiple CW=Cuss Words (not a premium square).

The game ends once a player has used up all their tiles, whatever tiles a player still possesses when the game ends will count against them and be awarded to the opposing player. For example, if your opponent beat you to the punch and played their last tiles before you could play your remaining tiles C, A and T — C being worth four points, A one point and T one point — you would subtract six points from your total score and add six points to your opponent’s score.

The game can also end if three turns have passed with no points scored.

Now that we have the basic rules out of the way, let’s dive into some basic strategies and tactics.

Strategy

There are many ways to play Words With Friends from a strategy stand point. Some players prefer a more aggressive approach, forming long words on each turn, to get rid of tiles as fast as possible. Keep in mind that 90 tiles are shared between both players, so the more tiles you use, the less there is for the opponent. Although it can be risky at times, branching out with long words gives your opponent ample opportunities to place tiles on premium squares.

The second approach I’d like to talk about is a more conservative style of play. It’s more defensive I’d say. With this approach you’ll form both short and long words, which of the two you’ll form on a given turn depends on a few factors, the biggest one being premium square proximity.

If you can form a long word to reach a premium square then go for it, otherwise, focus on forming short words. Make sure any word you form doesn’t extend so far that it allows your opponent to branch off your word to reach a premium square. Keep forming short words (especially parallel words, more on this later) until your opponent is forced to branch out putting you within striking distance of a premium square.

Obviously not all premium squares are of equal value, so you’ll have to use your best judgement on whether you want to avoid branching out to a certain premium square or if you’re willing to take the risk.

Tactics

Use Consonants to Minimize Risk – There are ways to minimize risk when forming long words. You’ll want to avoid placing vowels next to premium squares such as DL and TL. Placing vowels next to premium squares creates an easy setup for the opponent, since power tiles such as X naturally come before or after a vowel in many words. So just remember if possible form words with consonants next to the premium squares to minimize risk.

Rack Management – Keeping a good balance of vowels and consonants on your rack is important. Having all vowels or consonants can make it difficult to form long words. If you do find yourself with too many of either kind, try using your opponent’s tiles to your advantage. Say for example you have all consonants, just look around the board for any vowels you can place two or more consonants next to. Or you could use the swap option to get rid of some consonants, this option forfeits your turn, use this option sparingly.

Be a Hooker – Hooking is when you add letters to the beginning or end of a word to form a new word. Hooks can be very potent, a well placed hook can really boost your score. Check out the screenshot below for example. I used the S to hook onto the word SINE to form the new word SINES, so far I’m at 6 points, then the new word I formed horizontally SLOGS is worth 36 points, since the L (2 points) was on the TL square and the S landed on the TW square, bringing me to the total of 42 points. In that example the word I hooked onto didn’t give that many extra points, but if you do see your opponent form a word containing lots of power tiles — such as K, J, Q, Z, and X — that would be the ideal time to become a hooker.

Counting Cards errr… Tiles – Now it may seem a bit extreme to keep track of what tiles have been played, but it’s actually very useful, I’ll give an example to illustrate why. If you were trying to reach the premium square TW by first spelling the word DOG vertically and then spelling the word SEA horizontally, where the S connects with DOG to form DOGS. In order for this tactic to work, you need to be sure that the opponent has no blank or S tiles to connect with the word DOG, making it impossible for them to use the TW tile against you. Letter distribution can be found at the end of the guide.

Bingo Stems – As the author of this guide, you may think I score bingos quite frequently, I assure you I do not. That actually makes me unqualified to write this next tip. But if you’re a big believer in the blind leading the blind, please by all means continue reading.

Bingo Stems are a group of six letters that give you the highest probability of forming a seven letter word. Try memorizing these bingo stems to improve your odds of scoring a bingo — TISANE, SATIRE and RETINA.

Parallel Words – I recommend memorizing as many two and three letter words as possible (word list at end of guide), this will allow you to form multiple words in a single turn. In the screenshot below we see the player form three words by placing them parallel to each other — PEE, PE and EL.

Have Fun

At the end of the day playing Words With Friends should be a fun experience, so don’t take the game too seriously. If you’re new, you’ll lose a lot, but don’t let it get to you, just hit the re-match button, form a word, then type in the chat box BRING IT! That’s usually how most of my games go, especially with my arch-rival Jenn K. Lee of Pocketables.net *Shakes Fist*. I hope you found this guide to be helpful, thank you for reading, and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.

Word List

Words With Friends uses the Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon (ENABLE) word list, containing over 173,000 words, Newtoy has made a few additions to the word list such as ZEN and QI, more will be added in the future.

To download a text file containing all the words, click here.

Letter Distribution

There are 104 tiles in Words With Friends, below is the distribution of letters.

A=9	D=5	G=3	J=1	M=2	P=2	S=5	V=2	Y=2
B=2	E=13	H=4	K=1	N=5	Q=1	T=7	W=2	Z=1
C=2	F=2	I=8	L=4	O=8	R=6	U=4	X=1	*=2

3 Letter Words

I want to give a quick shout out to my Caps Lock and Tab keys, if it wasn’t for them this table wouldn’t be possible. And thanks to Newtoy for compiling the list!

AAH	AAL	AAS	ABA	ABO	ABS	ABY	ACE	ACT	ADD	ADO	ADS	ADZ
AFF	AFT	AGA	AGE	AGO	AHA	AID	AIL	AIM	AIN	AIR	AIS	AIT
ALA	ALB	ALE	ALL	ALP	ALS	ALT	AMA	AMI	AMP	AMU	ANA	AND
ANE	ANI	ANT	ANY	APE	APT	ARB	ARC	ARE	ARF	ARK	ARM	ARS
ART	ASH	ASK	ASP	ASS	ATE	ATT	AUK	AVA	AVE	AVO	AWA	AWE
AWL	AWN	AXE	AYE	AYS	AZO
BAA	BAD	BAG	BAH	BAL	BAM	BAN	BAP	BAR	BAS	BAT	BAY	BED
BEE	BEG	BEL	BEN	BET	BEY	BIB	BID	BIG	BIN	BIO	BIS	BIT
BIZ	BOA	BOB	BOD	BOG	BOO	BOP	BOS	BOT	BOW	BOX	BOY	BRA
BRO	BRR	BUB	BUD	BUG	BUM	BUN	BUR	BUS	BUT	BUY	BYE	BYS
CAB	CAD	CAM	CAN	CAP	CAR	CAT	CAW	CAY	CEE	CEL	CEP	CHI
CIS	COB	COD	COG	COL	CON	COO	COP	COR	COS	COT	COW	COX
COY	COZ	CRY	CUB	CUD	CUE	CUM	CUP	CUR	CUT	CWM
DAB	DAD	DAG	DAH	DAK	DAL	DAM	DAP	DAW	DAY	DEB	DEE	DEL
DEN	DEV	DEW	DEX	DEY	DIB	DID	DIE	DIG	DIM	DIN	DIP	DIS
DIT	DOC	DOE	DOG	DOL	DOM	DON	DOR	DOS	DOT	DOW	DRY	DUB
DUD	DUE	DUG	DUI	DUN	DUO	DUP	DYE
EAR	EAT	EAU	EBB	ECU	EDH	EEL	EFF	EFS	EFT	EGG	EGO	EKE
ELD	ELF	ELK	ELL	ELM	ELS	EME	EMF	EMS	EMU	END	ENG	ENS
EON	ERA	ERE	ERG	ERN	ERR	ERS	ESS	ETA	ETH	EVE	EWE	EYE
FAD	FAG	FAN	FAR	FAS	FAT	FAX	FAY	FED	FEE	FEH	FEM	FEN
FER	FET	FEU	FEW	FEY	FEZ	FIB	FID	FIE	FIG	FIL	FIN	FIR
FIT	FIX	FIZ	FLU	FLY	FOB	FOE	FOG	FOH	FON	FOP	FOR	FOU
FOX	FOY	FRO	FRY	FUB	FUD	FUG	FUN	FUR
GAB	GAD	GAE	GAG	GAL	GAM	GAN	GAP	GAR	GAS	GAT	GAY	GED
GEE	GEL	GEM	GEN	GET	GEY	GHI	GIB	GID	GIE	GIG	GIN	GIP
GIT	GNU	GOA	GOB	GOD	GOO	GOR	GOT	GOX	GOY	GUL	GUM	GUN
GUT	GUV	GUY	GYM	GYP
HAD	HAE	HAG	HAH	HAJ	HAM	HAO	HAP	HAS	HAT	HAW	HAY	HEH
HEM	HEN	HEP	HER	HES	HET	HEW	HEX	HEY	HIC	HID	HIE	HIM
HIN	HIP	HIS	HIT	HMM	HOB	HOD	HOE	HOG	HON	HOP	HOT	HOW
HOY	HUB	HUE	HUG	HUH	HUM	HUN	HUP	HUT	HYP
ICE	ICH	ICK	ICY	IDS	IFF	IFS	ILK	ILL	IMP	INK	INN	INS
ION	IRE	IRK	ISM	ITS	IVY
JAB	JAG	JAM	JAR	JAW	JAY	JEE	JET	JEU	JEW	JIB	JIG	JIN
JOB	JOE	JOG	JOT	JOW	JOY	JUG	JUN	JUS	JUT
KAB	KAE	KAF	KAS	KAT	KAY	KEA	KEF	KEG	KEN	KEP	KEX	KEY
KHI	KID	KIF	KIN	KIP	KIR	KIT	KOA	KOB	KOI	KOP	KOR	KOS
KUE
LAB	LAC	LAD	LAG	LAM	LAP	LAR	LAS	LAT	LAV	LAW	LAX	LAY
LEA	LED	LEE	LEG	LEI	LEK	LET	LEU	LEV	LEX	LEY	LEZ	LIB
LID	LIE	LIN	LIP	LIS	LIT	LOB	LOG	LOO	LOP	LOT	LOW	LOX
LUG	LUM	LUV	LUX	LYE
MAC	MAD	MAE	MAG	MAN	MAP	MAR	MAS	MAT	MAW	MAX	MAY	MED
MEL	MEM	MEN	MET	MEW	MHO	MIB	MID	MIG	MIL	MIM	MIR	MIS
MIX	MOA	MOB	MOC	MOD	MOG	MOL	MOM	MON	MOO	MOP	MOR	MOS
MOT	MOW	MUD	MUG	MUM	MUN	MUS	MUT
NAB	NAE	NAG	NAH	NAM	NAN	NAP	NAW	NAY	NEB	NEE	NET	NEW
NIB	NIL	NIM	NIP	NIT	NIX	NOB	NOD	NOG	NOH	NOM	NOO	NOR
NOS	NOT	NOW	NTH	NUB	NUN	NUS	NUT
OAF	OAK	OAR	OAT	OBE	OBI	OCA	ODD	ODE	ODS	OES	OFF	OFT
OHM	OHO	OHS	OIL	OKA	OKE	OLD	OLE	OMS	ONE	ONS	OOH	OOT
OPE	OPS	OPT	ORA	ORB	ORC	ORE	ORS	ORT	OSE	OUD	OUR	OUT
OVA	OWE	OWL	OWN	OXO	OXY
PAC	PAD	PAH	PAL	PAM	PAN	PAP	PAR	PAS	PAT	PAW	PAX	PAY
PEA	PEC	PED	PEE	PEG	PEH	PEN	PEP	PER	PES	PET	PEW	PHI
PHT	PIA	PIC	PIE	PIG	PIN	PIP	PIS	PIT	PIU	PIX	PLY	POD
POH	POI	POL	POM	POP	POT	POW	POX	PRO	PRY	PSI	PUB	PUD
PUG	PUL	PUN	PUP	PUR	PUS	PUT	PYA	PYE	PYX
QAT	QIS	QUA
RAD	RAG	RAH	RAJ	RAM	RAN	RAP	RAS	RAT	RAW	RAX	RAY	REB
REC	RED	REE	REG	REI	REM	REP	RES	RET	REV	REX	RHO	RIA
RIB	RID	RIF	RIG	RIM	RIN	RIP	ROB	ROC	ROD	ROE	ROM	ROT
ROW	RUB	RUE	RUG	RUM	RUN	RUT	RYA	RYE
SAB	SAC	SAD	SAE	SAG	SAL	SAP	SAT	SAU	SAW	SAX	SAY	SEA
SEC	SEE	SEG	SEI	SEL	SEN	SER	SET	SEW	SEX	SHA	SHE	SHH
SHY	SIB	SIC	SIM	SIN	SIP	SIR	SIS	SIT	SIX	SKA	SKI	SKY
SLY	SOB	SOD	SOL	SON	SOP	SOS	SOT	SOU	SOW	SOX	SOY	SPA
SPY	SRI	STY	SUB	SUE	SUM	SUN	SUP	SUQ	SYN
TAB	TAD	TAE	TAG	TAJ	TAM	TAN	TAO	TAP	TAR	TAS	TAT	TAU
TAV	TAW	TAX	TEA	TED	TEE	TEG	TEL	TEN	TET	TEW	THE	THO
THY	TIC	TIE	TIL	TIN	TIP	TIS	TIT	TOD	TOE	TOG	TOM	TON
TOO	TOP	TOR	TOT	TOW	TOY	TRY	TSK	TUB	TUG	TUI	TUN	TUP
TUT	TUX	TWA	TWO	TYE
UDO	UGH	UKE	ULU	UMM	UMP	UNS	UPO	UPS	URB	URD	URN	USE
UTA	UTS
VAC	VAN	VAR	VAS	VAT	VAU	VAV	VAW	VEE	VEG	VET	VEX	VIA
VIE	VIG	VIM	VIS	VOE	VOW	VOX	VUG
WAB	WAD	WAE	WAG	WAN	WAP	WAR	WAS	WAT	WAW	WAX	WAY	WEB
WED	WEE	WEN	WET	WHA	WHO	WHY	WIG	WIN	WIS	WIT	WIZ	WOE
WOG	WOK	WON	WOO	WOP	WOS	WOT	WOW	WRY	WUD	WYE	WYN
XIS
YAH	YAK	YAM	YAP	YAR	YAW	YAY	YEA	YEH	YEN	YEP	YES	YET
YEW	YID	YIN	YIP	YOB	YOD	YOK	YOM	YON	YOU	YOW	YUK	YUM
YUP
ZAG	ZAP	ZAX	ZED	ZEE	ZEK	ZIG	ZIN	ZIP	ZIT	ZOA	ZOO

2 Letter Words

AA

AB

AD

AE

AG

AH

AI

AL

AM

AN

AR

AS

AT

AW

AX

AY

BA

BE

BI

BO

BY

DE

DO

ED

EF

EH

EL

EM

EN

ER

ES

ET

EX

FA

FE

GO

HA

HE

HI

HM

HO

ID

IF

IN

IS

IT

JO

KA

LA

LI

LO

MA

ME

MI

MM

MO

MU

MY

NA

NE

NO

NU

OD

OE

OF

OH

OM

ON

OP

OR

OS

OW

OX

OY

PA

PE

PI

QI

RE

SH

SI

SO

TA

TI

TO

UH

UM

UN

UP

US

UT

WE

WO

XI

XU

YA

YE

YO

ZA

Board Reference

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