Category: Scrabble

The most recent Scrabble post, published on March 22, featured a list of toponyms (place names) in the first half of the alphabet. This post includes a list of toponyms in the second half. Learning these playable place names will broaden your vocabulary and up your game.

• oxford: a type of shoe, also known as a bal or balmoral
• panama: a type of wide-brimmed hat
• paris: a type of plant found in Europe and Asia that produces a lone, poisonous berry
• roman: a romance written in meter
• scot: an assessed tax
• scotch: to put an end to; or to etch or scratch (as in hopscotch)
• sherpa: a soft fabric used for linings
• siamese: a water pipe providing a connection for two hoses
• swiss: a sheer, cotton fabric
• texas: a tall structure on a steamboat containing the pilothouse
• toledo: a type of sword known for its fine craftsmanship, originally from Toledo
• wale: to injure, to create welts on the skin
• warsaw: a type of grouper fish
• waterloo: a definitive defeat
• zaire: a currency of Zaire

Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

The first Scrabble post of the semester featured first names that are also common nouns, making them playable in Scrabble. Today’s post includes place names, or toponyms, that are playable in Scrabble. Learning these words will broaden your vocabulary and up your game.

• afghan: a wool blanket
• alamo: a cottonwood poplar tree
• alaska: a heavy fabric
• berlin: a type of heavy fabric
• bermudas: a variety of knee-length, wide-legged shorts
• bohemia: a community of unconventional, usually artistic, people
• bolivia: a soft fabric
• bordeaux: a wine from the Bordeaux region
• boston: a card game similar to whist
• brazil: a type of tree found in Brazil used to make instrument bows (also brasil)
• brit: a non-adult herring
• cayman: a type of crocodile, also known as a spectacled crocodile (also caiman)
• celt: a type of axe used during the New Stone Age
• chile: a spicy pepper (also chili)
• colorado: used to describe cigars of medium strength and color
• congo: an eellike amphibian
• cyprus: a thin fabric
• dutch: referring to each person paying for him or herself
• egyptian: a sans serif typeface
• english: to cause a ball to spin
• french: to slice food thinly
• gambia: a flowering plant known as cat’s claw (also gambier, which is a small town in Ohio)
• geneva: gin, or a liquor like gin
• genoa: a type of jib (a triangular sail), also known as a jenny, first used by a Swedish sailor in Genoa
• german: also known as the german cotillon, an elaborate nineteenth-century dance
• greek: something not understood
• guinea: a type of British coin minted from 1663 to 1813
• holland: a linen fabric
• japan: to gloss with black lacquer
• java: coffee
• jordan: a chamber pot
• kashmir: cashmere
• mecca: a destination for many people

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

Learning nth (an unspecified number) and other all-consonant words can enable you to continue the game when you’re faced with a rack without vowels.

• brr: used to indicate that one is cold
• crwth: an ancient stringed instrument (pl. -s)
• cwm: a cirque (a deep, steepwalled basin on a mountain, pl. -s, prounounced to rhyme with “boom”)
• hm: used to express thoughtful consideration (also “hmm“)
• mm: used to express assent or satisfaction
• nth: describing an unspecified number in a series
• phpht: used as an expression of mild anger or annoyance (also “pht“)
• psst: used to attract someone’s attention
• sh: used to urge silence (also “shh” and “sha“)
• tsk: to utter an exclamation of annoyance (-ed, -ing, -s)
• tsktsk: to “tsk” (-ed, -ing, -s)

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review the blog posts devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

To mark the end of the first week of our windiest month, this Scrabble post features playable wind-related words. If your rack contains the right letters, spelling these words will be a breeze.

• bayamo: a strong wind found in Cuba
• bhut: a warm, dry wind in India (also bhoot)
• bise: a cold, dry wind, found especially blowing from the northeast in Switzerland (also bize)
• blaw: to blow
• bleb: a blister (an extremely intense or severe wind)
• bora: a cold wind in lowland regions
• brr: used to indicate feeling cold (also brrr)
• bura: a violent Eurasian windstorm (also buran)
• chinook: a warm wind that flows off the east side of the Rockies; or a type of Pacific Northwest salmon named after the Chinook people)
• fon: a warm dry wind that blows down off some mountains (also fohn and foehn)

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

Last week I published a blog post that listed the first twenty-two playable four-letter words with three vowels. Knowing those words, and others with multiple vowels, proves useful when you’re faced with a rack of mostly, or all, vowels. Here’s a list of the remaining fourteen playable four-letter words with three vowels:

• naoi: ancient temples (pl. of naos)
• obia: form of sorcery practiced in the Caribbean (also obeah)
• odea: concert halls (pl. of odeum)
• ogee: an S-shaped molding
• ohia: a Polynesian tree with bright flowers (also lehua)
• olea: corrosive solutions (pl. of oleum)
• olio: a miscellaneous collection
• ouzo: a Turkish anise-flavored liquor
• raia: a non-Muslim Turk (also rayah)
• roue: a lecherous old man
• toea: a currency in Papua, New Guinea
• unai: a two-toed sloth (pl. unai; an ai is a three-toed sloth)
• zoea: the larvae of some crustaceans

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Next Up

When class resumes on March 4, we will examine a model literacy narrative, and you will begin planning the midterm reflection that you will compose in class on Wednesday, March 6.

Happy Spring Break!

Knowing words with multiple vowels proves useful when you’re faced with a rack of mostly, or all, vowels. Here’s a list of the first twenty-two playable four-letter words with three vowels:

• aeon: a long period of time (also eon)
• agee: to one side (also ajee)
• agio: a surcharge applied when exchanging currency
• ague: a sickness associated with malaria
• ajee: to one side (also agee)
• akee: a tropical tree
• alae: wings (pl. of ala)
• alee: on the side shielded from wind
• amia: a freshwater fish
• amoa: a kind of small buffalo
• awee: a little while
• eaux: waters (pl. of eau)
• eide: distinctive appearances of things (pl. of eidos)
• emeu: an emu
• etui: an ornamental case
• euro: an Australian marsupial, also known as wallaroo, for being like the kangaroo and the wallaby; also a unified currency of much of Europe
• ilea: the terminal portions of small intestines (pl. of ileum)
• ilia: pelvic bones (pl. of ilium)
• jiao: a Chinese currency (also chiao)
• luau: a large Hawaiian feast
• meou: to meow
• moue: a pouting expression

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

Today’s blog post is the final installment in the series of posts devoted to playable two-letter words. Learning these two-letter words, as well as the other two-letter words in the alphabet, will enable you to see more options for play and increase the number of points you earn in a single turn.

• qi: the central life force in Chinese culture (also ki)
• re: a tone of the diatonic scale
• sh: used to encourage silence
• si: a tone of the diatonic scale (also ti)
• so: a tone of the diatonic scale (also sol)
• ta: an expression of thanks
• ti: a tone of the diatonic scale
• to: in the direction of
• uh: used to express hesitation
• um: used to express hesitation
• un: one
• up: to raise (-s, -ped, -ping)
• us: a plural pronoun
• ut: the musical tone C in the French solmization system, now replaced by do
• we: a first-person plural pronoun
• wo: woe
• xi: a Greek letter
• xu: a former monetary unit of Vietnam equal to one-hundreth of a dong (also sau, pl. xu)
• ya: you
• ye: you
• yo: an expression used to attract attention
• za: pizza

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.

In the previous weeks, I published blog posts featuring the playable two-letter words that begin with a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, and l. Today’s post features the playable two-letter words beginning with m, n, o, and p. Learning these two-letter words, as well as the other two-letter words in the alphabet, will enable you to see more options for play and increase the number of points you earn in a single turn.

M, by the way, is the most versatile consonant. In the first position, m pairs with every vowel: ma, me, mi, mo, mu, and also my. In the second position, m pairs with every vowel except i: am, em, om, um.

• ma: a mother
• me: a singular objective pronoun
• mi: a tone of the diatonic scale
• mm: an expression of assent
• mo: a moment
• mu: a Greek letter
• my: a first-person possessive adjective
• na: no, not
• ne: born with the name of (also nee)
• no: a negative answer
• nu: a Greek letter
• od: a hypothetical force
• oe: a whirlwind off the Faero Islands
• of: originating from
• oh: an exclamation of surprise
• oi: an expression of dismay (also oy)
• om: a sound used as a mantra
• on: the batsman’s side in cricket
• op: a style of abstract art dealing with optics
• or: the heraldic color gold
• os: a bone
• ow: used to express pain
• ox: a clumsy person
• oy: an expression of dismay (also oi)
• pa: a father
• pe: a Hebrew letter
• pi: a Greek letter

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review this post.

In the previous weeks, I published one blog post featuring playable two-letter words beginning with a and a second blog post featuring playable two-letter words beginning with b, d, and e. Today’ s blog post features playable two-letter words beginning with f, g, h, i, j, k, and l. Learning these two-letter words, as well as the other two-letter words in the alphabet, will enable you to see more options for play and increase the number of points you earn in a single turn.

• fa: a tone on the diatonic scale
• fe: a Hebrew letter
• gi: a white garment worn in martial arts
• go: a Japanese board game
• ha: used to express surprise
• he: a pronoun signifying a male
• hi: an expression of greeting
• hm: used to express consideration
• ho: used to express surprise
• id: the least censored part of the three-part psyche
• if: a possibility
• in: to harvest (a verb, takes -s, -ed, -ing)
• is: the third-person singular present form of “to be”
• it: a neuter pronoun
• jo: a sweetheart
• ka: the spiritual self in ancient Egyptian spirituality
• ki: the vital life force in Chinese spirituality (also qi)
• la: a tone of the diatonic scale
• li: a Chinese unit of distance
• lo: an expression of surprise

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website. Also review this post.

The first Scrabble blog post of the semester featured playable two-letter words beginning with “a.” Learning those two-letter words, as well as the others that follow in the alphabet, will enable you to see more options for play and can increase the number of points you earn in a single turn.

Here’s a list of the playable words beginning with “b,” “d,” and “e.”

• ba: the soul in ancient Egyptian spirituality
• bi: a bisexual
• bo: a pal
• by: a side issue
• de: of; from
• do: a tone on a scale
• ed: education
• ef: the letter f (also eff)
• eh: used to express doubt
• el: an elevated train
• em: the letter m
• en: the letter n
• er: used to express hesitation
• es: the letter s
• et: a past tense of eat
• ex: the letter x

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Next Up

Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review this blog post.