2 letter words
Two letter words are the shortest legal plays in most word games, and there are only 96 of them. That is a short enough list to genuinely learn, which is exactly what competitive players do, because the strange ones like XU, JO and OE decide close games.
Have the letters but not the word?
How many two letter words are there?
This list holds 96 two letter words, and it is the same set every serious word game recognises: no proper nouns, no abbreviations, no initials padding the number. Learning all 96 is the single highest return thing a player can do, because the odd entries score exactly as well as the obvious ones.
The full list
Alphabetical, grouped by first letter. Every word on this page is in the list, nothing is cut off.
Starting with A 16
- aa
- ab
- ad
- ae
- ag
- ah
- ai
- al
- am
- an
- ar
- as
- at
- aw
- ax
- ay
Starting with B 5
- ba
- be
- bi
- bo
- by
Starting with D 2
- de
- do
Starting with E 10
- ed
- ef
- eh
- el
- em
- en
- er
- es
- et
- ex
Starting with F 1
- fa
Starting with G 1
- go
Starting with H 5
- ha
- he
- hi
- hm
- ho
Starting with I 5
- id
- if
- in
- is
- it
Starting with J 1
- jo
Starting with K 1
- ka
Starting with L 3
- la
- li
- lo
Starting with M 7
- ma
- me
- mi
- mm
- mo
- mu
- my
Starting with N 4
- na
- ne
- no
- nu
Starting with O 12
- od
- oe
- of
- oh
- om
- on
- op
- or
- os
- ow
- ox
- oy
Starting with P 3
- pa
- pe
- pi
Starting with R 1
- re
Starting with S 3
- sh
- si
- so
Starting with T 3
- ta
- ti
- to
Starting with U 6
- uh
- um
- un
- up
- us
- ut
Starting with W 2
- we
- wo
Starting with X 2
- xi
- xu
Starting with Y 3
- ya
- ye
- yo
96 of these are common enough to be in everyday use. Turn on the filter above to hide the rest.
The value of a two letter word is rarely its own score. Played alongside a word already on the board it can form three or four new words at once, and the tiles you keep back are usually worth more than the two you spent. That is why this short list matters more than any long word you will ever draw.
AA, AE, AI and OE are made of nothing but vowels, which makes them the escape hatch when your rack has nothing but vowels on it. If you want something longer, the three letter list is the natural next step, and the unscrambler will tell you exactly what your own letters can make.
Other word lengths
The same complete list treatment for every length from 2 to 15 letters.
Five letter words by starting letter
Each letter has its own page with the full list and notes on how that letter behaves at five letters.