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tour

/tɔː(ɹ)/
nounverb

TOUR meaning: a journey through places, often with a guide; TOUR scores 4 Scrabble points because each of its tiles is worth 1.

NWL Collins ENABLE

Noun 4 meanings

  1. A journey through a particular building, estate, country, etc.

    “On our last holiday to Spain we took a tour of the wine-growing regions.”

  2. A guided visit to a particular place, or virtual place.

    “On the company's website, you can take a virtual tour of the headquarters.”

  3. A journey through a given list of places, such as by an entertainer performing concerts.

    “Metallica's tour of Europe”

  4. A trip taken to another country in which several matches are played.

Verb 2 meanings

  1. To make a journey.

    “The Rolling Stones were still touring when they were in their seventies.”

  2. To make a circuit of a place.

    “The circuses have been touring Europe for the last few weeks.”

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

Where it comes from

Etymology

From Old French tour, tourn, from the verb torner, tourner.

TOUR is an everyday word for travel, guided visits, and itineraries that move from stop to stop. Its frequency count is 23,875, consistent with its familiar feel in ordinary English. That matters at the board: the word is easy to recognize, but its simple score comes from four equal-value tiles, not a premium letter.

TOUR at a glance

  • TOUR contains four letters: T, O, U, and R.
  • Each tile is worth 1 point, giving TOUR a base Scrabble score of 4.
  • ROUT and TROU are the two anagrams.
  • YOUR, FOUR, HOUR, POUR, and SOUR are familiar one-letter neighbours.
  • The rhyme set has 12 entries, including YOUR, FOUR, HOUR, and SOUR.

TOUR meaning: what kind of journey?

TOUR means a journey through a place or a series of places. A guided visit to a building, estate, or virtual place fits too; so does an entertainer's run of performances across several stops.

In sports, a tour can mean travel to another country to play several matches. The same four-letter spelling covers a guided outing, a route, or a traveling schedule; context tells you which sense is intended.

The TOUR meaning stays centered on movement between places. These senses share that idea, even when the trip is virtual or the stops are concert venues.

How TOUR scores and connects to other words

For TOUR meaning at the board, separate definition from tile value: T, O, U, and R each score 1, so its face-value total is 4. No letter outweighs another; choose placement for board premiums rather than expecting one tile to raise the base score.

Rout may jump out more readily than TROU, but both rearrangements use each of TOUR's four letters once. The less obvious arrangement is easy to miss when you are scanning a rack for familiar words.

One-letter neighbours include your, four, hour, pour, and sour, all close substitutions worth checking when a clue or rack changes by one tile. The full neighbour set contains 13 entries, including less familiar forms such as jour and touk; check these against your game's dictionary.

TOUR rhymes with your, four, hour, and sour; the 12-word set also includes longer forms such as colour, honour, behaviour, and harbour.

Rhymes with tour

All rhymes

One letter away

Change one letter, keep the rest
  • YOUR7
  • FOUR7
  • HOUR7
  • POUR6
  • SOUR4
  • TOUT4
  • JOUR11
  • COUR6
  • DOUR5
  • TORR4
  • LOUR4
  • TOUN4
  • TOUK8

Questions people ask

Is TOUR a valid Scrabble word?
Yes. TOUR appears in Collins, NWL2023, and ENABLE, and its four one-point tiles score 4 before board bonuses. That makes its base value straightforward to calculate, though the final play can change with premium squares. Confirm your app's chosen word list if its rules differ.
What words can you make from TOUR?
ROUT and TROU are TOUR's two four-letter anagrams. Each rearrangement uses T, O, U, and R once. ROUT is easier to recognize in everyday play; TROU is the one many players overlook, so check the rack before settling on the obvious arrangement.
What does TOUR mean in sports?
In sports, a tour is a trip to another country in which several matches are played. The word also describes guided visits and performers traveling between venues, so the surrounding context tells you which kind of journey TOUR refers to.

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