Scrabble Bingo Stems: The Six-Letter Groups That Make the Most Words
In Scrabble, playing all seven of your tiles in one turn earns a 50-point bonus, known as a bingo. (Words With Friends gives 35.) Bingos often decide games, and strong players find them far more often than beginners. Their secret is not a giant memory. It is a short list of stems: groups of six letters that combine with many different seventh letters to make a word.
What is a bingo stem?
Take the six letters of SATIRE. Add an F and you can make FAIREST. Add a G and you get GAITERS; add a P and you get PIRATES; add a W and you get WAITERS. If you hold those six letters, there is a good chance that whatever you draw next will give you a bingo. That is what makes it a stem.
The most productive stems
We tested every six-letter word in our dictionary of about 168,000 English words, adding each letter of the alphabet in turn and counting how many letters produced at least one seven-letter word. These are some of the best:
| Stem | Letters | Letters that make a 7-letter word | Everyday examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| TISANE | A E I N S T | 23 of 26 | INSTEAD, SEATING, INTAKES, ENTAILS, INMATES, RETAINS, NATIVES |
| SINGER | E G I N R S | 20 of 26 | ERASING, FINGERS, LINGERS, REGIONS, SINGERS, RESTING, SERVING, SYRINGE |
| EASTER | A E E R S T | 20 of 26 | REBATES, CREATES, DEAREST, HEATERS, RELATES, STEAMER, EASTERN, SWEATER |
| SATIRE | A E I R S T | 18 of 26 | FAIREST, GAITERS, REALIST, RETAINS, PIRATES, ARTISTE, WAITERS |
| SEARCH | A C E H R S | 18 of 26 | CRASHED, REACHES, CHARGES, CASHIER, MARCHES, RANCHES, ARCHERS |
| RETINA | A E I N R T | 17 of 26 | CERTAIN, TRAINED, GRANITE, RELIANT, PAINTER, TRAINER, NITRATE |
| SENIOR | E I N O R S | 17 of 26 | CRONIES, REGIONS, INSHORE, JOINERS, EROSION, SENIORS, VERSION |
Our dictionary is the public-domain ENABLE word list, not the official tournament list, so exact counts in official play may differ slightly. The ranking of the strongest stems is very similar.
Why these letters?
Look at what the best stems have in common. They are built almost entirely from the letters that appear most often in English words: E, A, I, R, S, T and N. Those letters combine easily with each other and with almost anything else. That is why experienced players are happy to keep an S, an E or an R on their rack rather than play it cheaply.
How to use stems in a real game
- Keep good letters. If your rack is close to one of these stems, consider playing off your awkward tiles first and keeping the stem letters for next turn.
- Check the stem before every draw. Once you hold a stem, look at each tile you draw and ask which seven-letter word it makes.
- Look for space on the board. A bingo needs room. Keep an eye on open lanes, especially those running to a premium square.
- Remember the eighth letter. Sometimes your seven tiles plus one letter already on the board make an eight-letter word. STRAINED, for example, is a seven-letter rack plus a D.
Start with three
Do not try to learn all seven at once. SATIRE, RETINA and SENIOR are a good start: they are made of the most common letters and you will hold something close to them surprisingly often.
To practise, enter seven letters into our Scrabble word finder and look at the seven-letter results first. You will start to recognise these stems on your own rack within a few games.
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Related reading: 30 best two-letter words · 15 high-scoring words
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