4-letter words

Four letters is where a Scrabble rack starts to offer real choices. Of the 5,577 words, 1,803 are everyday English such as THAT, WITH and TIME, and 4,400 have a definition. The remainder are the clipped board-only words that separate casual players from club regulars.

Four-letter words at a glance

• Collins accepts 5,454 four-letter words, NWL2023 accepts 4,247 and ENABLE accepts 3,903.
• S opens 490 words, ahead of T with 356 and B and P with 348 each. X opens exactly one: XYST.
• The second letter is a vowel in 4,107 words. A (1,057) and O (1,024) lead.
• Endings are lopsided: 1,110 words end in S, 700 in E and 438 in T.
• The average word scores 7.7 points, and QUIZ reaches 22 without a blank.

How many 4-letter words end in S?

A total of 1,110, which works out to about one word in five. In 1,040 of them the first three letters are themselves a valid three-letter word, so CATS, DOGS and MAPS are a short word plus an S.

Not every S-ender is a plural. THIS and ALAS are whole words, so the S tile there is part of the answer, not a hook you can lift off.

E comes next at 700, then T (438), A (320), D (297) and K (279). K is the surprise: everyday words such as BACK, WORK, LOOK, WEEK and BOOK all close on it.

Use this when you hold an S. Scan the board for any three-letter word with space after it, because the hook turns it into a four-letter play and scores both words.

Which 4-letter words score the most in Scrabble?

QUIZ scores 22 from one Q and one Z, so it needs no blank. It is the top NWL2023 word you can build from a standard tile set; Collins edges it with JAZY at 23. Drop the Z and Q words top out lower, with QUAY at 16 and QUIP at 15.

Some bigger totals are paper only. JAZZ lists at 29, but a set holds a single Z, so the second Z is a blank and the word plays for 19.

Single-Z plays that do reach the board include WHIZ and HAZY at 19, JINX and COZY at 18, and JACK at 17.

High totals are rare. Only 144 of the 5,577 words reach 15 points, so any four-letter play that clears that mark deserves a second look before you settle for a plain 8.

Which 4-letter words have a Q but no U?

• Six four-letter words hold a Q without a U: QAID, QATS, QOPH, QADI, WAQF and CINQ.
• QAID, QATS and QOPH pass in every dictionary. QOPH scores 18, the best of that trio.
• QADI works in NWL2023 and Collins. WAQF, worth 19, is Collins only, and CINQ is NWL2023 only.
• Q starts 19 words in all, so 15 of them use a U, as in QUIZ, QUIT and QUAY.
• None of the six is a common word. Expect them only on a Scrabble board.

Four-letter words with no vowels

Nine words skip A, E, I, O, U and Y. BRRR, CWMS, PFFT, PSST and TSKS pass in every dictionary. HMMM, PWNS and SHHH are NWL2023 only, and ZZZS is Collins only.

PFFT is the one to remember. It scores 12 from two Fs and a P, which a standard set supplies without a blank. ZZZS lists at 31 but plays for 11, because one Z tile is all you own.

A rack of consonants looks hopeless, yet these are real plays. BRRR needs three Rs, and a standard set holds six. PSST needs two of the four S tiles.

How do dictionaries differ for 4-letter words?

Collins accepts 1,329 four-letter words that NWL2023 rejects, while NWL2023 accepts 122 that Collins does not. ENABLE leaves out 1,674 of the 5,577, about three in ten.

Collins-only plays include WAQF, JAZY and ZZZS. The NWL2023-only side is thinner: CINQ, HMMM, PWNS, SHHH and VAXX.

If your game runs on ENABLE, trust only words that appear in it, and for any other word check the list before you commit your tiles.

What shape do most 4-letter words take?

Consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant covers 2,084 words, such as PARK, GIFT and LOCK. Consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel covers 1,081, such as LAKE. Both counts treat Y as a consonant.

When the second letter is not a vowel, R leads with 288 words, as in FROM, followed by L with 226 (PLAY) and H with 160 (THAT). Some 575 words double a letter, as in BOOK.

Which letters start the most 4-letter words?

S leads with 490, then T (356), B and P (348 each), D (323), C (320) and M (311). Vowels start fewer: E opens 160, O 164, A 268, I 70 and U 62.

The rare letters are small groups. Q opens 19, Z opens 58, J opens 122 and X opens one. Some 395 words contain a J, Q, X or Z somewhere, which is where your high-scoring options live.

The most frequent English words of this length are THAT, WITH, THIS, HAVE, FROM, YOUR and THEY. Seven of the top fourteen contain an H, so H earns its place on any guess-and-check list.

Putting 4-letter words to work

1. Hold an S and hunt for three-letter words to hook, since 1,040 of the S-enders start with one.
2. Keep the six Q-without-U words in mind. They let a stranded Q out of your rack.
3. Learn the five vowelless words valid everywhere: BRRR, CWMS, PFFT, PSST and TSKS.
4. Treat PFFT as a rescue play. It scores 12 from ordinary tiles when your rack has no vowel at all.
5. Enter your tiles in the Finder to list every 4-letter word they spell, or step up to 5-letter words.