The two-letter words

If you know the short words, you almost always find a spot and can lay words right next to others. Your tiles then count twice.

In short

With two-letter words you play parallel to other words and score in two directions.
Learn the ones with expensive tiles like X, J, Z or Q first.
The list comes from the UK word list the word finder uses.

Why two-letter words matter so much

If you lay a word right next to another, lots of short words form across it. Each of them counts, and the tiles you lay count in both words. So a small move often scores more than a long word somewhere on the edge. The two-letter words also help you fit expensive tiles like X or Z into tight spaces.

All two-letter words from A to Z

Our word list has 127 two-letter words.

A: A₁A₁ A₁B₃ A₁D₂ A₁E₁ A₁G₂ A₁H₄ A₁I₁ A₁L₁ A₁M₃ A₁N₁ A₁R₁ A₁S₁ A₁T₁ A₁W₄ A₁X₈ A₁Y₄
B: B₃A₁ B₃E₁ B₃I₁ B₃O₁ B₃Y₄
C: C₃H₄
D: D₂A₁ D₂E₁ D₂I₁ D₂O₁
E: E₁A₁ E₁D₂ E₁E₁ E₁F₄ E₁H₄ E₁L₁ E₁M₃ E₁N₁ E₁R₁ E₁S₁ E₁T₁ E₁W₄ E₁X₈
F: F₄A₁ F₄E₁ F₄Y₄
G: G₂I₁ G₂O₁ G₂U₁
H: H₄A₁ H₄E₁ H₄I₁ H₄M₃ H₄O₁
I: I₁D₂ I₁F₄ I₁N₁ I₁O₁ I₁S₁ I₁T₁
J: J₈A₁ J₈O₁
K: K₅A₁ K₅I₁ K₅O₁ K₅Y₄
L: L₁A₁ L₁I₁ L₁O₁
M: M₃A₁ M₃E₁ M₃I₁ M₃M₃ M₃O₁ M₃U₁ M₃Y₄
N: N₁A₁ N₁E₁ N₁O₁ N₁U₁ N₁Y₄
O: O₁B₃ O₁D₂ O₁E₁ O₁F₄ O₁H₄ O₁I₁ O₁K₅ O₁M₃ O₁N₁ O₁O₁ O₁P₃ O₁R₁ O₁S₁ O₁U₁ O₁W₄ O₁X₈ O₁Y₄
P: P₃A₁ P₃E₁ P₃I₁ P₃O₁
Q: Q₁₀I₁
R: R₁E₁
S: S₁H₄ S₁I₁ S₁O₁ S₁T₁
T: T₁A₁ T₁E₁ T₁I₁ T₁O₁
U: U₁G₂ U₁H₄ U₁M₃ U₁N₁ U₁P₃ U₁R₁ U₁S₁ U₁T₁
W: W₄E₁ W₄O₁
X: X₈I₁ X₈U₁
Y: Y₄A₁ Y₄E₁ Y₄O₁ Y₄U₁
Z: Z₁₀A₁ Z₁₀E₁ Z₁₀O₁

The most valuable two-letter words

These short words score 7 points or more even without a premium square. Laid across another word on a double or triple letter square, the expensive tile even counts twice.

Q₁₀I₁ 11 pts
Z₁₀A₁ 11 pts
Z₁₀E₁ 11 pts
Z₁₀O₁ 11 pts
A₁X₈ 9 pts
E₁X₈ 9 pts
J₈A₁ 9 pts
J₈O₁ 9 pts
K₅Y₄ 9 pts
O₁X₈ 9 pts
X₈I₁ 9 pts
X₈U₁ 9 pts
F₄Y₄ 8 pts
B₃Y₄ 7 pts
C₃H₄ 7 pts
H₄M₃ 7 pts
M₃Y₄ 7 pts

How to learn them

Start with the expensive ones, they score the most.
Learn them by first letter, a few per game.
Not sure? The word finder has a “Check a word” box at the bottom.

This is our free UK list, not Collins Scrabble Words. In a tournament the list of allowed two-letter words may therefore look a little different. Players in the UK and most other countries are allowed more of them than players in North America.