Muslim ruler
AHA exclamation of triumph or surprise
AIA a female servant
AKA a type of vine
ALA a wing
AMA a vessel for water
ANA a collection (e.g. Victoriana)
AUA yellow-eye mullet
AVA a Polynesian shrub
AWA away
BAA sound made by a sheep
CAA Scots for call
FAA Scots for fall
MAA sound made by a goat
The three-letter words are almost as useful as the twos because there are so many ways of adding a letter to a two-letter word to make a three-letter one. That helps you place words on the board and get a higher score by playing more words in one move.
There are 1,341 valid three-letter words so it will take you a while to get to know all of them. It can be done – you can absorb them partly by learning and partly (and more enjoyably) by playing. The more you play, especially against better players, the more you will see these words and the more you will find you remember them.
To get things rolling …
Here are some of the best three-letter words to start you off:
All vowels:
AIA a female servant in India or South Africa
AUA a mullet (the fish, not the hairstyle beloved of 1980s footballers)
AUE a Māori exclamation
EAU a river
All consonants:
BRR expressing cold
CWM Welsh for valley
HMM expressing doubt or hesitation
NTH of an unspecified number
PHT expressing irritation
PST attracting attention
SHH requesting silence
TSK expressing annoyance
TWP Welsh word meaning stupid
The all-consonant words exclude those containing Y, which acts as a vowel in words like DRY, and one other rather ridiculous word which we will come to later. You shouldn’t worry about it because, believe me, you will never play it.
Using a three-letter word can be a great way to use the high-scoring tiles J, Q, X and Z, especially by getting the power tile on a double- or triple-letter square. Here are some that might help you:
J first: JUD a block of coal
J second: GJU that Shetland violin again, an alternative spelling to GU.
J third: there are three, HAJ, RAJ and TAJ, all of Indian origin.
Q first: QAT an intoxicating drug
Q third: SUQ an Arab market-place
X first: XIS plural of XI, a Greek letter – the only three starting with X
X second: OXO containing oxygen
X third: TEX a unit of weight of yarn
Z first: ZOL a cannabis cigarette
Z second: AZO a term used in chemistry
Z third: WIZ short for wizard
There are even some three-letter words with two power tiles: JIZ (a wig), ZAX (saxophone) and ZEX (a tool for cutting slates). There are no three-letter words with Q in the middle.
The B is not one of the most useful letters. It’s most often used in shorter words, preferably on a premium square to increase its value, and preferably to help you get rid of your other less useful letters. Good B-words for this are:
BEZ an antler on a deer’s horn
BIZ colloquial for business
JAB
JIB
JOB
WAB dialect form of web
CAB
BAC the baccalaureate, a French exam (and now being introduced in the UK)
FAB
FIB
FOB
FUB to cheat
BAH
BOO
BOA
Here are some B-eautiful words that use unusual letter combinations:
BOOAI thoroughly lost
BRAAI South African barbecue
OBEAH type of witchcraft once supposedly used in the West Indies
BRAAI and OBEAH can also be verbs, so as well as BRAAIS and OBEAHS, you can also have BRAAIED, BRAAIING, OBEAHED and OBEAHING.
There are some U-less (but far from useless) words that contain B with Q:
NIQAB, NIQAAB Muslim veil
QIBLA direction of Mecca, to which Muslims turn when praying
The most likely way of using B in a bonus word is probably something beginning with BE- or BI-. The -ABLE suffix is also worth remembering (NOTABLE, OPENABLE) and quite a few with an optional E in the middle: LIV(E)ABLE, LOV(E)-ABLE, NAM(E)ABLE, MAK(E)ABLE, TAK(E)ABLE.
If
