The Scrabble Word List by the Numbers
We counted every word in the list behind Unscramble AU. Here is what 267,751 words tell us about Scrabble.
Most Scrabble advice is based on feel. This guide is based on counting. We took the word list behind Unscramble AU, which has 267,751 words, and measured it: how long the words are, which letters they use, and where the big anagram families are. The results explain a lot about why certain strategies work.
These numbers describe the words in the list, not the tiles in the bag. For tile counts and values, see our tile guide.
How long are the words?
| Word length | Words in the list | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 124 | 0.0% |
| 3 | 1,292 | 0.5% |
| 4 | 5,454 | 2.0% |
| 5 | 12,478 | 4.7% |
| 6 | 22,157 | 8.3% |
| 7 | 32,909 | 12.3% |
| 8 | 40,161 | 15.0% |
| 9 | 40,727 | 15.2% |
| 10 | 35,529 | 13.3% |
| 11 | 27,893 | 10.4% |
| 12 | 20,297 | 7.6% |
| 13 | 13,857 | 5.2% |
| 14 | 9,116 | 3.4% |
| 15 | 5,757 | 2.2% |
The most common length is nine letters, with 40,727 words. Words of seven and eight letters, the lengths that matter for a bingo, together make up 73,070 words, or 27% of the list. Only 124 words have two letters, and 1,292 have three, which is why the short words are so easy to memorise and so valuable.
Which letters appear most?
Counting every letter of every word gives a different picture from the tile distribution, because the dictionary has many long words with endings like -ISATION and -INGS. The table shows each letter's share of all letters in the list, alongside its tile value.
| Letter | Share of all letters | Tile points |
|---|---|---|
| E | 11.3% | 1 |
| S | 9.6% | 1 |
| I | 9.0% | 1 |
| A | 7.7% | 1 |
| R | 7.0% | 1 |
| N | 6.7% | 1 |
| O | 6.6% | 1 |
| T | 6.5% | 1 |
| L | 5.2% | 1 |
| C | 4.0% | 3 |
| D | 3.4% | 2 |
| U | 3.3% | 1 |
| P | 3.0% | 3 |
| M | 2.9% | 3 |
| G | 2.8% | 2 |
| H | 2.5% | 4 |
| B | 1.8% | 3 |
| Y | 1.6% | 4 |
| F | 1.2% | 4 |
| V | 0.9% | 4 |
| K | 0.9% | 5 |
| W | 0.8% | 4 |
| Z | 0.5% | 10 |
| X | 0.3% | 8 |
| Q | 0.2% | 10 |
| J | 0.2% | 8 |
E is the most common letter (about 11.3%), followed by S, I, A, R, N, O and T. Notice that S is second: the plural and verb endings in the word list account for it. This is one reason the S tile is prized.
How many words use the rare letters?
| Letter | Words containing it |
|---|---|
| Z | 10,977 |
| X | 6,832 |
| K | 20,866 |
| V | 21,738 |
| J | 3,951 |
| Q | 4,069 |
Z appears in 10,977 words, and the two rarest letters, J and Q, appear in about 3,951 and 4,069. Among all 267,751 words, only 70 contain a Q without a U (see our Q guide).
The biggest anagram families
Some sets of letters can be rearranged into many valid words. These are the letters that bingo hunters love, because a rack containing them almost always contains a playable word.
Seven-letter families
- AEGINST: 11 words (EASTING, EATINGS, GAINEST, GENISTA, INGATES, INGESTA, SEATING, TAGINES, TANGIES, TEASING, TSIGANE)
- AEINRST: 11 words (ANESTRI, ANTSIER, NASTIER, RATINES, RESIANT, RETAINS, RETINAS, RETSINA, STAINER, STARNIE, STEARIN)
- AEGINRS: 10 words (ANGRIES, EARINGS, ERASING, GAINERS, GRAINES, REAGINS, REGAINS, REGINAS, SEARING, SERINGA)
Eight-letter families
- AEGINRST: 11 words (ANGRIEST, ANGSTIER, ASTRINGE, GANISTER, GANTRIES, GRANITES, INGRATES, RANGIEST, REASTING, STEARING, TASERING)
- AEGILNRS: 8 words (ALIGNERS, ENGRAILS, NARGILES, REALIGNS, SALERING, SANGLIER, SIGNALER, SLANGIER)
- AEEGNRST: 8 words (ESTRANGE, GRANTEES, GREATENS, NEGATERS, REAGENTS, SEGREANT, SERGEANT, STERNAGE)
The letters AEGINST form the same word 11 different ways. That is why so many experts learn these letters by heart. See our bingo guide for how to use them.
Other facts
- The most common first letter is S (30,575 words), followed by C (24,120), P (23,352), D (15,917).
- 3,405 words contain all five vowels, A, E, I, O and U.
- The longest words in the list have 15 letters, and there are 5,757 of them.
What the numbers mean for your game
Because over a quarter of the list is seven or eight letters long, bingo-length words are plentiful once you learn the common letter combinations. Because the list has so few Q, J and X words, it also pays to learn every one of them. And because S sits near the top of the frequency table, keeping an S can be worth more than a few extra points on the current turn.
All figures here come from the word list used on this site. It is an earlier edition of Collins Scrabble Words, so the current official list will differ slightly.