# Scrabble (English) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [October 22, 2026, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068 "2026-10-22T16:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/1 "2026-10-22T16:26:07Z")
I’ve been watching YouTube videos of high-level Scrabble. It’s amazing the (valid) words they come up with. But I see a lot of foreign words (e.g. QUAI (French for QUAY)), and words such as C\*NT. Would the N-word be acceptable? Other insults to minorities? 5 points seems like a very small penalty for calling out an opponent’s “phony” which turns out to be valid. Memorize the 107 two-letter words - noting that none have the letter “C”, and the only ones with two consonants are “HM”, “MM”, and “SH”. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/2 "2026-10-22T16:30:09Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > noting that none have the letter “C CH n-word would not be acceptable as it has a hyphen. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/3 "2026-10-22T16:49:37Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > I’ve been watching YouTube videos of high-level Scrabble. It’s amazing the (valid) words they come up with. But I see a lot of foreign words (e.g. QUAI (French for QUAY)), and words such as C\*NT. Would the N-word be acceptable? Other insults to minorities? There is an official Scrabble dictionary, so as long as the word is there, it’s playable. I think the high-level players memorize as many of the words as possible. They may start with the shorter words. (And quai is in [that dictionary](https://scrabble.merriam.com/).) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/4 "2026-10-22T17:18:04Z")
I remember _GAMES_ magazine had a lengthy article about _Scrabble_. The article included an interview with the American champion. Said champion told the interviewer he considered the game to be more of a math game than a word game. I can see that. A top player needs to know the tiles in the set with the point values for each letter, probabilities, and, of course, have a ready repertoire of high scoring words. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/6 "2026-10-22T18:30:11Z")
I’m a very good Scrabble player. I’m absolutely crappy at math. It’s rudimentary math as far as I can tell. But, yeah you gotta know those 2 and 3 letter words to win consistently. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/7 "2026-10-22T22:00:01Z")
There used to be a great Scrabble program that let you use different dictionaries: Scrabble, SOWPODS, Chambers, etc. The two letter words vary a little by country and dictionary, and you must know these along with Q without a U words… they allow a few more words every time they revise the dictionary. It’s a very good game. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/8 "2026-10-24T15:08:44Z")
cannot type today will try later. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/9 "2026-10-24T16:06:35Z")
The official rules for the game don’t actually specify a dictionary, just that everyone in the game must agree on what dictionary to use. The Official Scrabble Dictionary is only official in the sense that it’s the dictionary that’s used in tournaments. A home game may of course choose to use that dictionary, or they could choose some other one. And they don’t exactly decide which words to put in the Official Scrabble Dictionary, either. They have a list of about a half-dozen standard, reputable dictionaries, and base the Official Scrabble Dictionary on what words are in those. Those dictionaries, meanwhile, choose what to include based on usage, and there is some level of judgement call there. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/10 "2026-10-24T16:11:46Z")
And, by the way, unlike what the OP says, c\*nt is _not_ in the official dictionary, nor is the n-word. > [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > I’ve been watching YouTube videos of high-level Scrabble. It’s amazing the (valid) words they come up with. But I see a lot of foreign words (e.g. QUAI (French for QUAY)), and words such as C\*NT. Would the N-word be acceptable? Other insults to minorities? ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/11 "2026-10-24T19:23:48Z")
There are various word lists used in tournaments, this one apparently contains offensive words: > **[NASPA Word List](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASPA_Word_List)** > > NASPA Word List (NWL, formerly Official Tournament and Club Word List, referred to as OTCWL, OWL, TWL) is the official word authority for tournament Scrabble in the US and Canada under the aegis of NASPA Games. It is based on the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) with modifications to make it more suitable for tournament play. Its British and international-English counterpart is Collins Scrabble Words. North American tournament Scrabble currently uses the sixth edition of NWL, officiall... Note that the OSPD is more for school use and not tournaments. > **[Official Scrabble Players Dictionary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Scrabble_Players_Dictionary)** > > The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary or OSPD is a dictionary developed for use in the game Scrabble, by speakers of American and Canadian English. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary was first published in 1978 through the efforts of the National Scrabble Association (NSA) Dictionary Committee and Merriam-Webster, primarily in response to a need for a word authority for NSA-sanctioned clubs and tournaments. Prior to its publication, Scrabble clubs and tournaments used Funk & Wagnalls Sta... Brian ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/12 "2026-10-24T20:52:53Z")
Lots of choices… (list may be dated) ## **Word List Comparison** | **Word List** | **Words** | **Governs** | **Free / Open** | **Maintained** | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **CSW24** | ~280,000 | International tournaments (WESPA) | No (Collins) | **Yes, ~3yr cycle** | | **NWL2023** | ~196,600 | North American tournaments (NASPA) | No (NASPA) | **Yes, ~3yr cycle** | | **SOWPODS** | ~280,000 | Legacy; now CSW | No | Superseded by CSW | | **TWL06** | ~178,000 | Legacy North American | No (Hasbro) | Superseded by NWL | | **ENABLE** | ~172,000 | Casual / software reference | **Yes (public domain)** | No updates since ~2000 | | **WWF** | ~173,000 | Words With Friends | No (Zynga) | | ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scrabble-english/1034068/13 "2026-10-25T11:18:01Z")
In the events I was watching, if a word was challenged, it would be typed in on a keyboard, and the screen would light up either red or green, Perhaps the software merges in more than one dictionary.