25 High-Scoring Scrabble Words You’ll Actually Play

The thing is, gasp, "oxyphenbutazone" has never been played and, barring a miracle, it’s never going to be played. Even laying the thing down requires eight letters in one particular configuration, and to net that nonsensical number, it also needs to be strung across three triple word scores. In fact, 1,778 is more than twice the points that have ever been scored in a single Scrabble game.

25 High-Scoring Scrabble Words

While we could tell you what are, technically, “the highest-scoring Scrabble words,” any of those long and lofty top-scoring Scrabble words are pretty much useless in an actual game. Instead, broken down into 2-letter Scrabble words, plus 3-, 4- and 5-letter words, please enjoy our list of high-scoring Scrabble words you’ll actually play and win with.

2-Letter Words

AX (9 points) - Heavy sharp thing with a handle, used to chop.

EX (9 points) - That which one is without, particularly in matters romantic. Also the 24th letter of the Latin (and English, and so on) alphabet.

JO (9 points) - Scottish for “sweetie.” Short for “joy.”

OX (9 points) - Your basic big bovine beast of burden, specifically a boy cow with bits removed.

QI (11 points) - The principle of energy in Chinese tradition.

XI (9 points) - The 14th letter of the Greek alphabet.

XU (9 points) - A minor unit of Vietnamese currency.

3-Letter Words

ZEK (16 points) - Inmate of a Soviet labor camp.

FEZ (15 points) - Traditional Turkish cylindrical cap, usually red. Fezzes are cool.

FIZ (15 points) - Unusual, but legal, spelling of “fizz,” as in bubbles.

PYX (15 points) - A box, often for holding something sacred, like the Eucharist, or otherwise important, like a weight at the mint.

WIZ (15 points) - Short for “wizard.” Commonly, somebody good at a thing.

4-Letter Words

QUIZ (22 points) - A test or set of questions, typically a short one.

JEEZ (20 points) - Minced oath for “Jesus,” an exclamation of mild surprise.

FOZY (19 points) - Spongy, puffy, fat or soft.

HAZY (19 points) - Full of literal or figurative mist, foggy.

5-Letter Words

JAZZY (33 points) - Of, relating to or resembling jazz.

JIFFY (21 points) - A bit, a sec, a skosh, two shakes. A short time.

JUNKY (19 points) - Worthy of being discarded.

QUAKY (21 points) - Shaky, twitchy, shuddersome.

ZAPPY (21 points) - Slang for lively, exciting, straight up fun.

ZAXES (21 points) - More than one tool for cutting roofing slates. Can never have enough of those.

ZINKY (21 points) - Containing or resembling zinc.

ZIPPY (21 points) - Fast or full of energy.

Pack in the Points

The first rule of Scrabble is not “do not talk about Scrabble.” Kidding! Go ahead and talk about Scrabble all you want. The first rule of Scrabble is actually “big words do not equal big points.” For high-scoring Scrabble words you’ll actually play, it’s all about packing points into concise, easily usable words. These are 25 of the best, even without using a bonus.

For more high-scoring words, check out WordFinder’s unbeatable collection of curated word lists, where we’ve sorted words by length, starting letter, ending letter and a baker’s dozen of other ways that help word gamers win. Alternatively, WordFinder’s Scrabble cheat tool will find you a playable word out of up to 15 letters of your choice. No need to thank us. We’re here to help you win.

Matt Salter has been a professional writer for over 10 years. He is a gaming and technology expert, and world-class word nerd.