· Updated 10 October 2026
The 30 Best Two-Letter Scrabble Words You Should Memorize
If one thing separates a casual Scrabble player from a strong one, it is the humble two-letter word. These tiny words let you score in two directions at once, squeeze points out of a crowded board and get rid of awkward letters. Most good plays in a tight game depend on them.
The North American tournament dictionary accepts more than 100 two-letter words, and the Collins dictionary used in the UK and most other countries accepts more than 120. You do not need to learn them all at once. Start with these 30. Every one is accepted in both dictionaries, and together they cover the trickiest tiles.
The high-value words
| Word | Points | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| QI | 11 | life force in Chinese philosophy |
| ZA | 11 | informal word for pizza |
| XI | 9 | a letter of the Greek alphabet |
| XU | 9 | a former unit of Vietnamese currency |
| JO | 9 | a Scots word for a sweetheart |
| KA | 6 | the spiritual self in ancient Egyptian belief |
| KI | 6 | another spelling of qi |
The X hooks
| Word | Points | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| AX | 9 | American spelling of axe |
| EX | 9 | a former partner |
| OX | 9 | the animal |
The vowel dumpers
| Word | Points | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| AA | 2 | a kind of rough, cindery lava |
| AE | 2 | Scots for one |
| AI | 2 | a three-toed sloth |
| OE | 2 | a whirlwind off the Faroe Islands |
No vowels needed
| Word | Points | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| HM | 7 | an expression of thought |
| MM | 6 | an expression of agreement or enjoyment |
| SH | 5 | a request for quiet |
The Y and W words
| Word | Points | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| AW | 5 | an expression of sympathy |
| OW | 5 | an expression of pain |
| AY | 5 | yes |
| YA | 5 | you |
| YE | 5 | you, in old-fashioned English |
| YO | 5 | a greeting |
| OY | 5 | an expression of dismay |
Useful everyday helpers
| Word | Points | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| EF | 5 | the letter F |
| FA | 5 | a note of the musical scale |
| FE | 5 | a Hebrew letter |
| EH | 5 | an expression of doubt |
| HO | 5 | a call for attention |
| BO | 4 | a friend |
Points are face value, before premium squares.
Why the high-value ones matter so much
QI and ZA are worth 11 points each, and they let you play a Q or a Z almost anywhere. Place the Q of QI on a triple-letter square and the word scores 31 on its own. XI, XU, AX, EX and OX mean an X can nearly always be played, often in two directions at once so that it counts twice.
Hooking: the real reason to learn them
"Hooking" means adding a letter to a word already on the board while you play a new word across it. Two-letter words are what make hooks legal. If you know that AE, AI and OE are words, you can tuck a new word alongside an existing one and score for several short words in a single move. Strong players think about the two-letter words a move creates as much as the main word.
For UK and international players
If you play with the Collins dictionary, you have extra options that are not accepted in North America, including CH, EA, OI, ZO and ET. They are worth learning if Collins is your dictionary, but avoid them in North American games.
How to learn them
- Learn them by group, as above, rather than alphabetically.
- Start with the seven high-value words. They will make the biggest difference to your scores.
- Practise with real tiles. Put a few letters into our Scrabble word finder and notice which two-letter words appear.
Dictionaries are revised every few years. Every word in the list above is accepted in current editions of both main tournament dictionaries, but if you play in an app with its own word list, check there. Scrabble is a registered trademark of Hasbro in the US and Canada and of Mattel elsewhere. EasyUnscramble is independent and not affiliated with either.
Related reading: Scrabble bingo stems · Short words with Z, X, J and Q · Three-letter words
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