Letterpile

Guides

Last updated:

These guides explain the ideas behind Letterpile's tools and the word games they help with. Each one is written for this site, uses examples checked against the word list the tools use, and links to the tools it discusses. Numbers in the guides, such as how many two-letter words there are, are counted from that list when the site is built, so they always match what the tools show. Words come from the open ENABLE word list. Different games use different dictionaries, so always check the rules of your game.

How the tools work

  • How Word Unscramblers Work
    Letter counts, blank tiles and sorted-letter signatures: the simple ideas that make an unscrambler fast.
  • What Is an Anagram?
    Perfect and partial anagrams, phrase anagrams, how common they are in the word list, and tricks for spotting them.
  • Word Lists Explained
    What a game word list is, why Letterpile uses the public-domain ENABLE list, and how to check a word for your own game.

Tile games

  • Letter Values and Tile Counts
    The commonly used letter values and 100-tile set, compared with how often each letter really appears.
  • Rack Balance Explained
    Why a mix of vowels and consonants gives more options, shown with real counts, plus rules of thumb for what to keep.
  • Using J, Q, X and Z
    How rare J, Q, X and Z are, the shortest words that use them, and when to hold or play them.
  • Hooks, Prefixes and Suffixes
    Single-letter hooks, common prefixes and suffixes, and how they create extra plays on a board.

Word lists to learn

  • Two-Letter Words: The Full List
    Every two-letter word in the list this site uses, with short meanings and which familiar ones are missing.
  • Words With Q and No U
    The complete, short list of words with a Q and no U, what they mean and where they come from.
  • Words Without Vowels
    Words with no A, E, I, O or U, the even shorter list without Y, and why such words exist.

Daily word puzzles

Word list pages

Besides the guides, the site has browsable word lists: words by length, words starting with a letter or prefix, and words ending in a letter or suffix. Each list page adds facts worked out from its own words, such as the longest entry and the most common neighboring letters.

A note on accuracy

Where a guide gives advice about play, it is offered as a rule of thumb, not a guarantee. Where it gives a fact about words, the fact comes from the ENABLE word list, not from any game's own dictionary. Letter values and bonuses are the commonly used ones, and games can differ. If you spot something wrong, please let us know.

In the ENABLE word list. Definitions come from the Free Dictionary API; looking one up sends the word and your IP address to that service.