Scrabble Letter Statistics

These are some statistics that more serious Scrabble players might find useful. They will help you to know which letters go well or badly together and can help you to decide which words would be best to put down and which letters would be best to save for your next go. The statistics on this page were made using all of the 2-8 letter words in the Official Tournament and Club Word List Dictionary (TWL).

Letters that go best or worst with other letters

This section shows you which letters go well or badly with other letters. For each letter, the number of words also containing each of the other 25 letters in the alphabet were totalled up and the results shown in the table below were calculated from that. The letters in the table below are sorted with the best letter first in the middle column and worst letter first in the last column.

Letter Letters that go best with that letter Letters that go worst with that letter
A M, Q, L, B, C O, U, I, F, E
B U, L, A, O, K P, V, Q, F, H
C K, H, O, A, U W, G, Z, F, Q
D E, W, O, U, R Q, K, T, Z, H
E V, D, X, R, Z Y, G, O, U, J
F L, U, I, X, R Q, J, P, V, B
G N, I, U, A, J Q, X, C, K, P
H C, W, S, T, Y J, V, Q, X, F
I G, N, Q, Z, V U, O, Y, A, W
J U, K, Y, O, G Q, F, H, X, V
K C, J, W, B, I X, V, Z, G, Q
L Y, F, B, A, U J, Q, R, H, Z
M A, I, U, O, S V, Q, W, F, K
N G, I, O, U, A Q, B, X, H, R
O W, C, X, B, P Q, A, I, U, E
P Y, O, S, I, E B, Q, F, V, J
Q U, I, Z, A, E W, J, F, V, P
R V, E, F, A, O X, J, L, Z, Q
S H, P, U, T, E Y, Z, D, X, G
T I, E, U, S, H K, Z, D, G, J
U Q, J, B, F, M W, Z, V, A, Y
V E, I, R, A, O Q, K, F, Z, M
W H, O, D, K, Y Q, U, C, X, Z
X E, O, I, F, T K, Z, J, G, W
Y L, P, J, W, H E, U, Q, S, V
Z I, Q, E, O, A X, V, W, K, P

Letter Frequencies

When you have a few similar scoring words on your rack and you're not sure which one to put down then it could also be worth considering what letters you would have left and how easy they are to use. The information below can help you to decide which letters would be best to keep depending on what the game score is and how blocked up the board is.

Shorter Words

Shorter words can be more useful when the board is blocked up or you are ahead and want to block the board up to reduce the chances of your opponent using all their letters. The tables below show how many words of each length contain each letter for shorter words and is sorted by quantity. The letters at the top are easier to use for shorter words so try and keep those letters ahead of those further down the table if you have a choice of similar scoring words to play and don't know which one to put down.

Letter No. of 2 Letter Words
A 27
O 25
E 22
I 17
M 12
H 10
N 9
U 9
S 8
T 7
Y 7
B 6
D 6
F 5
L 5
P 5
X 5
R 4
W 4
G 2
K 2
J 1
Q 1
Z 1
C 0
V 0

 
Letter No. of 3 Letter Words
A 313
E 255
O 239
I 178
S 152
T 146
U 138
P 130
R 125
D 119
N 119
G 112
B 110
M 107
Y 101
L 96
H 94
W 86
F 69
C 66
K 55
V 36
X 36
J 26
Z 24
Q 4

 
Letter No. of 4 Letter Words
A 1386
E 1340
S 1288
O 1055
I 881
R 820
L 798
T 775
N 677
U 613
D 579
P 527
M 493
H 434
C 431
B 415
G 410
K 409
Y 403
W 345
F 317
V 148
J 98
Z 84
X 63
Q 17

 
Letter Total No. of 2-4 Letter Words
A 1726
E 1617
S 1448
O 1319
I 1076
R 949
T 928
L 899
N 805
U 760
D 704
P 662
M 612
H 538
B 531
G 524
Y 511
C 497
K 466
W 435
F 391
V 184
J 125
Z 109
X 104
Q 22

Or split up into scoring groups with the easiest to use letters listed first:

Highest scoring letters (8-10 points) = J, Z, X, Q
Middle scoring letters (3-5 points) = P, M, H, B, Y, C, K, W, F, V
Lowest scoring letters (1-2 points) = A, E, S, O, I, R, T, L, N, U, D, G

Longer Words

Longer words can be more useful when the board is more open or you are behind and want to try and use all your letters to catch up your opponent. The table below shows how many words of each length contain each letter for longer words and is sorted by quantity. The letters at the top are easier to use for longer words so try and keep those letters ahead of those further down the table if you have a choice of similar scoring words to play and don't know which one to put down.

Letter No. of 7 and 8 Letter Words
E 34729
S 28749
I 26448
A 25206
R 24641
N 20654
T 19814
O 19363
L 18908
D 13995
C 13105
U 13036
G 10563
P 10021
M 9910
H 8770
B 7738
Y 5930
F 4979
K 4705
W 4111
V 3545
Z 1385
X 1163
J 795
Q 725

Or split up into scoring groups with the easiest to use letters listed first:

Highest scoring letters (8-10 points) = Z, X, J, Q
Middle scoring letters (3-5 points) = C, P, M, H, B, Y, F, K, W, V
Lowest scoring letters (1-2 points) = E, S, I, A, R, N, T, O, L, D, U, G

Differences between Shorter and Longer Words

Whilst most of the letters that are best for shorter words are also best for longer words, there are a few notable differences that you might like to consider:

  • The A is more useful for shorter words than it is for longer words. It is the best vowel for shorter words but only the third best for the longer words.
  • The C is not very good for short words but is much more useful for longer words. It is one of the worse of the 3-5 point scoring letters for shorter words as it isn't used in any of the two letter words.
  • Although the E is good for all lengths of words, it is not quite as good as the A for shorter words.
  • The I is more useful for longer words than it is for shorter words. It is only the fourth best vowel for shorter words but it's the second best for the longer words because it is used for some of the most common word endings such as IER, IES, IEST and ING.
  • The O is more useful for shorter words than it is for longer words. It is the second best vowel for shorter words but it's only the fourth best for the longer words.

    Full Letter Frequencies Table

    The table below shows the full version of the above tables sorted by letter instead of quantity.

    Letter 2 Letter Words 3 Letter Words 4 Letter Words 5 Letter Words 6 Letter Words 7 Letter Words 8 Letter Words Total
    A 27 313 1386 3499 6578 10790 14416 37009
    B 6 110 415 968 1954 3275 4463 11191
    C 0 66 431 1374 2922 5318 7787 17898
    D 6 119 579 1569 3730 5980 8015 19998
    E 22 255 1340 3884 9331 15216 19513 49561
    F 5 69 317 691 1249 2108 2871 7310
    G 2 112 410 1007 2308 4577 5986 14402
    H 10 94 434 1149 2244 3685 5085 12701
    I 17 178 881 2432 5493 10985 15463 35449
    J 1 26 98 171 291 412 383 1382
    K 2 55 409 885 1323 2094 2611 7379
    L 5 96 798 2171 4542 7926 10982 26520
    M 12 107 493 1223 2490 4157 5753 14235
    N 9 119 677 1851 4463 8514 12140 27773
    O 25 239 1055 2535 4785 7957 11406 28002
    P 5 130 527 1277 2459 4289 5732 14419
    Q 1 4 17 76 163 302 423 986
    R 4 125 820 2674 6084 10488 14153 34348
    S 8 152 1288 4008 6945 12285 16464 41150
    T 7 146 775 2087 4351 8004 11810 27180
    U 9 138 613 1596 3342 5694 7342 18734
    V 0 36 148 457 891 1392 2153 5077
    W 4 86 345 675 1117 1815 2296 6338
    X 5 36 63 202 322 503 660 1791
    Y 7 101 403 1324 1933 2551 3379 9698
    Z 1 24 84 212 407 609 776 2113

     

    Links to other pages on this website

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