Scrabble Words of the Day -- Short "OO" Words

Got "OO" on your rack? Of course there are tons of words where you can use that in the middle of the word, and some where you can use it at the end (i.e., tattoo). And of course you can break them up.

But here are a few short words you can spell that start with "OO":

OOH
OOMPH
OOPS
OOT
OOTID
OOZE
OOZY

The 4th Ed. Player's Dictionary also adds:

OORIE

Scrabble Word of the Day -- SUQ

SUQ is an obvious Scrabble word for people who play in clubs and tourneys, but for others, it might be a surprise that you can use this word. Yet, it's an important word because it's the only SHORT "Q" word where Q comes at the end.

It's a noun, so you can also play SUQS.

Two Useless Scrabble Words

Ok, I'm always after very practical plays for Scrabble, but I came across a couple of useless words today that I thought were fun to share.

The first is fun because it's just such an impossible word. I mean, who would have ever thought to make this a word? The word is "DIRNDL" -- a woman's dress.

The second is fun because it's, well ... "FUNEST." You know how you sometimes catch people saying "funnest" and "funner." Obviously those aren't real words. So who would expect "FUNEST" to be a real word. Apparently it is, and means "portending death or evil."

Have at it!

Scrabble Word of the Day -- FAB

Once upon a time, you couldn't use the word "FAB" (i.e., "Fabulous"), but now, in the 4th edition player's dictionary, you sure can. And that'll probably follow soon in the club and tourney dictionary.

As always, wait till the new words are approved for club and tourney play but, if you've got the 4th edition on hand for general play, go ahead and use this on an opponent!

("FABS" is ok too -- FAB is "fabulous" and also "something fabricated", so you can add the "S".)

Scrabble Word of the Day -- QI

In the Player's Dictionary, 4th Edition, you can now play the word QI -- and I expect you'll be able to in the 2nd Edition of the Club/Tourney dictionary as well. This is going to make an enormous difference in games. Make sure you know it, then zap any players unfamiliar with the change. (Don't use it in tournament or club play until the new words are accepted, though.)

I truly believe that QI and ZA (short for pizza), now in the 4th Edition, are the biggest changes of all. They're going to create huge new opportunities for big points because, at last, Q and Z can easily be played in two directions, especially on double and triple word or letter tiles. Imagine getting QI or ZA in two directions on a TLS -- that's an easy 62 points without a BINGO.

Scrabble Words of the Day -- DUN+

Someone has played DUN on your Scrabble board (def: to make demands upon for payment of a debt). You want ways to play new words off the end? No problem -- here are the hooks:

DUNE
DUNG
DUNK

You probably knew those. But you've also got:

DUNT (def: to strike with a heavy blow)

Scrabble Word of the Day -- JATO

A simple one for today, because another J word is always nice to know in Scrabble. Looking for a "J" play? Try JATO or, plural, JATOS.

You can try keeping it in mind with its definition: a takeoff aided by jet propulsion.

Get it? Jet. Jato.

Scrabble Words of the Day -- LEE+

L and E tiles in Scrabble are very common, and of course you can use LEE (if you really had to) as a word in Scrabble. But while you may want to hold onto one E in your rack for your next turn, here are some extensions to LEE that might help you to make words:

LEEBOARD
LEECH
LEEK
LEER
LEERY
LEET
LEEWARD
LEEWAY

Scrabble Words of the Day -- COS+

Today's words play off of COS. You can easily hook off of COS with the following words:

COSH
COSS
COST
COSY

However, you can also add to the word with a mere 2 letters more, which you do to catch a triple-word score, for instance; or you might even extend the initial word COS when you're first playing it. Here are words you can build by adding just 2 tiles to COS:

COSEC
COSET
COSEY
COSIE
COSTA

Scrabble Word of the Day -- NAZIFY

If you've played much Scrabble, you've probably either used the word "NAZI" or have seen it used, simply because it's an easy Z word to play. (A I and N are all very common letters.)

But did you know you could build on that and play "NAZIFY" -- to cause to be a Nazi! It's true.

Scrabble Words of the Day -- FAR+

A very commonly played word in Scrabble: "FA". From there, it's no stretch to see "FAR". So let's take a look at the words you can play off of "FAR":

FARD
FARE
FARL
FARM
FARO
FART

You will NOT see "FART" in the players dictionary, but it's in the club and tournament dictionary, so play it only in those settings.

Scrabble Word of the Day -- ZITI

Ok, back to a "Z" word ... but why not? They score big points, and I try to stick with words that are really practicle, rather than just the outlandish ones that you'll almost never use.

So ... one of the easy and common words spelled with Z is "ZIT". That means it's important to know that you can add an I and get "ZITI." If you've got "ING" sitting in your rack, it's a good way of having another spot to play a BINGO.

Scrabble Word of the Day -- JOTA

Here's an easy one for today. One of the common words spelled with the J tile is "JOT". Keep in mind that you can use "JOTA" and you got an extra way to add tiles to the board.

Scrabble Words of the Day -- Starting with NG

If you see NG on your rack, your first thought is probably to look for an I so that you've got an ING ending to the other four tiles.

But just so that we're not too blinded by habit, keep in mind a couple other uses of NG.

First, you can always swap them. SING can become SIGN. You can also spell words like IGNITION this way.

Second, NG can actually start a word. In fact, two words. The first of these wouldn't be widely used. That word is NGULTRUM.

But the second one might be. That word is NGWEE.

Personally, I'd usually rather keep the NG in hopes for an ING word. But if NGWEE is going to land you on a triple-word score -- especially in two directions -- then it's not a bad idea to know this word.

Scrabble Word of the Day -- SLAP???

So you've got the letters S L A and P on your rack and you know you can at least play PA, PAS, PAL, PALS, LAP, LAPS, SAP, SLAP ... and any more I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Of course this assumes that you're willing to use an "S" without scoring big, or that you're playing a triple-word in two directions or something along those lines. But let's take a look at one more thing.

With those letters, you can also spell "PSAL". This is not a word in itself, but there a plenty of letters you can add to this (with tiles from the board or your rack) to finish a longer word. You've got:

PSALM
PSALMIC
PSALMIST
PSALMODY
PSALTER
PSALTERY
PSALTRY

This is just a few of the words that start with PS (including PSI) and, surprisingly, PT. You might whip out that old Scrabble dictionary and see just what else is available with these unusual word beginnings.