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published

/ˈpʌblɪʃt/
adjective

PUBLISHED meaning: issued to the public in print or online. The nine-letter word scores 17 points in Scrabble.

NWL Collins ENABLE

Adjective 2 meanings

  1. Issued for sale to the public

  2. Who has had a publication published

Definitions: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA) via Kaikki/Wiktextract

PUBLISHED is the past tense of publish, and it doubles as an adjective for anything that has already reached readers. It ranks 876th in English word frequency, with a count of 6,843, so you meet it constantly. Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE all accept it.

PUBLISHED at a glance

  • Nine letters: B, D, E, H, I, L, P, S and U, each used once.
  • Base Scrabble value is 17 points before any premium square.
  • No anagrams exist, so no rearrangement play is available.
  • Two one-letter neighbours: PUBLISHER and PUBLISHES.
  • All three tournament lists accept it.

How many points is PUBLISHED worth in Scrabble?

PUBLISHED scores 17. H is worth 4, P and B are worth 3 each, D is worth 2, and the other five tiles are worth 1. The four heavy tiles carry 12 of the 17 points, so a double-letter square under the H adds 4 on its own.

Length is the real hurdle. A nine-letter word cannot come entirely off your rack, which holds seven tiles, so you need two letters already on the board. That makes PUBLISHED a hook-and-extend play, and it earns the 50-point bonus only when you empty the whole rack.

What PUBLISHED means and what sits next to it

As a verb form, PUBLISHED means made available to the public, whether a novel, a study or a photograph. As an adjective it describes the work itself, as in a published author. The entries stay close to that one idea of issuing something for sale or reading.

Swap the final D and you reach PUBLISHER or PUBLISHES, the only two one-letter neighbours. Words that end the same way, such as FINISHED and WATCHED, share the -HED sound but not the spelling of the front half, so they will not extend it.

Rack tip

Tip

If you hold H, P and B with a spare D, look for a double-letter square under the H. The H alone adds 4 points to PUBLISHED, more than any other tile.

Rhymes with published

All rhymes

One letter away

Change one letter, keep the rest

Questions people ask

Is published a valid Scrabble word?
Yes. PUBLISHED is accepted in Collins, NWL2023 and ENABLE, so it plays in every standard tournament dictionary. Its base score is 17 points, before any double or triple squares, and it uses nine tiles in total.
Does published have any anagrams?
No. PUBLISHED has no anagrams, so no other word uses exactly these nine letters. Its closest relatives are one-letter changes: PUBLISHER and PUBLISHES both swap the final letter D for R or S respectively.
How common is the word published?
PUBLISHED is common. It sits at rank 876 in English word frequency with a count of 6,843. That puts it well inside the everyday vocabulary, though it is long enough that most Scrabble racks cannot form it without help from the board.

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