15 High-Scoring Scrabble Words That Are Easy to Remember
Big Scrabble scores rarely come from long, obscure words. They come from putting a high-value tile on the right square, often in a short word you can play in two directions at once. The fifteen words below are all short, all easy to remember, and all built around the game's most valuable letters: Q and Z (10 points each), X and J (8 points each).
The fifteen words
Scores are the face value of the tiles, before any premium squares. A word on a double- or triple-word square, or with its key letter on a triple-letter square, scores much more.
| Word | Points | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| QI | 11 | life force in Chinese philosophy |
| ZA | 11 | informal word for pizza |
| QAT | 12 | a shrub whose leaves are chewed |
| XI | 9 | a Greek letter |
| EX | 9 | a former partner, or the letter X |
| OX | 9 | the animal |
| JO | 9 | Scots word for a sweetheart |
| ZAX | 19 | a tool for cutting roof slates |
| FEZ | 15 | a brimless hat |
| JINX | 18 | bad luck |
| QUIZ | 22 | a test of knowledge |
| JOKE | 15 | something said to make people laugh |
| ZINC | 15 | the metal |
| HAZY | 19 | misty or unclear |
| QUAKE | 18 | to shake |
Check your dictionary. These words are accepted in the standard tournament dictionaries used in North America and in the UK, but dictionaries are revised every few years, and casual apps sometimes use their own word lists. If in doubt, check before you play.
Why short words win
Take XI and EX. On their own they score 9 points. But if you place the X on a triple-letter square and make XI in one direction and EX in the other, the X counts in both words: that single tile is worth 24 points each way, for 50 points in total, from two letters you already had.
The same trick works with ZA, QI and JO. Look for a triple-letter square with a vowel next to it, then ask whether your high-value tile can form a two-letter word both across and down.
Getting rid of a Q without a U
QI and QAT are the two most useful words in this list, because they let you play the Q without needing a U. For more, see our list of Q-without-U words.
A note on JAZZ
JAZZ would score 29 points at face value, but a standard English Scrabble set has only one Z. You can only play JAZZ by using a blank tile as the second Z, and blanks are worth nothing, so it scores 19. Still a good word, but not quite the jackpot it looks.
How to make these words stick
- Learn them in pairs: XI and EX, ZA and ZAX, QI and QAT.
- Say the meaning out loud. A word you can picture (a FEZ on someone's head) is far easier to recall mid-game.
- Practise with real racks. Put a few letters into our Scrabble word finder to practise spotting short, high-value plays. It searches about 168,000 words, so it will find every word in this list.
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Related reading: Scrabble bingo stems · Scrabble letter values
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