How to Play Scrabble

You don't need to be a wordsmith

It's easy to assume Scrabble rewards people with huge vocabularies, but most points come from playing sensible, everyday words in the right spot on the board — not from knowing obscure ones. Nobody remembers every valid word, including experienced players. That's exactly what tools like our Word Finder and Validator are for — looking words up isn't cheating, it's just part of how the game is actually played.

What you're working with

Scrabble is played on a 15×15 board with 100 letter tiles (98 lettered tiles plus 2 blank "wildcard" tiles that can stand in for any letter). Each player keeps a rack of 7 tiles at a time, drawn at random from a shared bag.

Starting the game

The first word played must cross the centre square of the board. After that, every new word has to connect to a tile that's already on the board — either by extending an existing word or by crossing one at a right angle.

Taking a turn

On your turn you can do one of three things: play a word using tiles from your rack, swap some or all of your tiles for new ones from the bag, or pass. Words are only allowed to read left-to-right or top-to-bottom — never diagonally or backwards. Once you've played, you draw back up to 7 tiles before your next go.

How scoring works

Every tile has a point value printed on it — common letters like E and A are worth 1 point, rarer ones like Q and Z are worth much more. Some squares on the board double or triple the value of a single letter placed on them, and a few double or triple the value of the whole word. Use all 7 tiles from your rack in a single turn and you get a 50-point bonus on top — this is called a "bingo". Our Score Calculator works all of this out for you, including the multipliers.

What actually counts as a valid word

To be playable, a word has to appear in the dictionary being used for the game — on this site, that's a UK (Collins-style) or US (TWL-style) word list, switchable with the toggle in the header. Proper nouns (names of people, places and brands), abbreviations, and hyphenated words generally aren't allowed, even if they're words you use every day. That's why something like "England" gets rejected here — it's a perfectly good word, just not one Scrabble accepts, since it's a place name rather than a dictionary word.

Getting comfortable

A good habit for your first few games: don't try to build long, impressive words. Two and three-letter words are completely legitimate plays and are often exactly what you need to fit into a tight spot on the board or use up an awkward tile — see our two-letter word list for the full set. Once the basics feel natural, the Glossary & Word Lists page has more reference material and strategy tips for when you're ready to go a bit deeper.

Common questions

Can you use hyphenated words in Scrabble?

No — hyphenated words aren't allowed under standard rules, the same as proper nouns and abbreviations. Only words that appear as a single unhyphenated entry in the dictionary being used are valid.

Can you play Scrabble alone?

Scrabble itself is built as a competitive game for 2 to 4 players, so there's no official solo mode. That said, plenty of people play solo informally as a vocabulary exercise — dealing themselves a rack and using tools like our Word Finder to explore what's playable is a genuinely useful way to build board sense without needing an opponent.

How long does a game of Scrabble take?

A casual two-player game typically runs 45 to 90 minutes depending on vocabulary and how much time each player spends thinking through their rack. Tournament games are usually timed at 25 minutes per player, keeping a full game to around an hour.