Words With Friends vs Scrabble: Every Difference That Matters

Words With Friends looks almost identical to Scrabble at first glance: a 15×15 board, seven-tile racks, premium squares and crossword-style play. But the differences in scoring change what a good move looks like. If you play both, adjusting for these differences can be worth dozens of points per game.

The quick comparison

Tile values side by side

This is the biggest practical difference. Several letters are worth more in Words With Friends.

These are the values our Scrabble word finder and Words With Friends tool use to rank words.

What the differences mean

• J is a power tile in WWF. At 10 points, it's as valuable as Q and Z. Short J words like JO, JA, JAB and JOT become prime plays on letter premiums.
• Mid-value consonants are worth more. B, C, M, P, G, L, N and U all score an extra point. Words packed with these letters score noticeably better in WWF.
• H and Y are worth less. In Scrabble, H and Y are handy 4-pointers. In WWF they're 3, so plays built around them lose some appeal.

The bingo bonus

Using all seven tiles earns 50 points in Scrabble but only 35 in WWF. That 15-point difference changes rack strategy:

• In Scrabble, keeping good tiles to set up a bingo is often worth sacrificing points this turn.
• In WWF, a big-scoring play now is more often the better choice, because the bingo payoff is smaller.

That doesn't mean bingos are unimportant in WWF. Thirty-five points is still a lot. But "fishing" for a bingo over several turns is less rewarding.

The board

Both boards are 15 squares by 15, with double- and triple-letter and double- and triple-word squares. In WWF, the premium squares are arranged differently, so the best scoring spots appear in different places.

If you switch between games, take a moment before each move to check where the premiums actually are. Habits built on one board can lead you to miss spots on the other.

Dictionaries

Scrabble tournaments use official word lists: the NASPA Word List (NWL) in North America and Collins Scrabble Words in most other countries. Our dictionary follows the Collins list. Words With Friends uses its own word list, maintained by the game's publisher, which includes some modern and informal words that traditional Scrabble lists don't, and leaves out some obscure ones.

The practical upshot: if a word is borderline, it may be valid in one game and not the other. Our Scrabble dictionary guide explains the official lists in more detail.

Challenges and invalid words

In Scrabble, especially under tournament rules, playing an invalid word risks a challenge. If your word is ruled invalid, you take your tiles back and lose your turn. In WWF, the app simply refuses invalid words, so you can try again at no cost.

This makes WWF more forgiving for experimentation. In Scrabble, you need to be confident in a word before playing it.

Which should you play?

• Choose Scrabble if you like a slower, more strategic game with a strong tournament scene and official word lists.
• Choose Words With Friends if you want casual asynchronous games on your phone with friends, with higher scores and no challenge risk.

Many players enjoy both. The core skills (two-letter words, high-value tile placement, rack balance) transfer directly.

Related reading

• Scrabble tile values and distribution
• Highest-scoring Scrabble words
• How to play Scrabble