Scrabble score calculator
Enter a word, mark the premium squares it covers, and get the score. The premium squares are usually where the difference between a decent move and a good one lives.
How the arithmetic works
Letter multipliers apply first: a double letter square doubles that one tile. Then the word multiplier applies to the sum of the whole word. So a triple word square triples everything, including letters that were already doubled.
If a word covers two double word squares, it is doubled twice — four times the base. Two triple word squares multiply by nine. Those are the options in the word multiplier list.
Using all seven of your tiles in one move adds fifty points on top, after the multipliers.
Blanks
A blank tile is worth nothing, and it stays worth nothing even on a triple letter square. Tick the blank box under a letter and watch the total drop — this is the single most common reason a hand calculation disagrees with what the game shows.
The blank still counts toward the seven tile bonus, though, so a bingo played with a blank is usually still the best move on the board.
Premium squares only count once
A premium square applies on the turn a tile is placed on it, and never again. Playing through a double word square that was covered on an earlier turn scores nothing extra. It is worth remembering when the board is getting crowded and you are deciding whether to open a new line.
Where the squares sit is on the board page. Playing Words with Friends instead? Its values differ — use the Words with Friends calculator.
A worked example, so the order is obvious
Take QUIZ. The tiles are Q 10, U 1, I 1, Z 10, so the plain word is 22.
- Put the Z on a triple letter square: the Z counts 30 instead of 10, so the word becomes 42.
- Now have the same word also cover a double word square: 42 × 2 = 84.
- Swap that for a triple word square instead: 42 × 3 = 126 from four tiles.
That is the whole reason short words beat long ones so often. A seven-letter word made of one-point tiles on plain squares scores less than QUIZ placed properly, and it uses your whole rack to do it.
The words you did not mean to play also score
When you lay tiles alongside an existing word, every new word you form scores, not just the one you were aiming for. A single tile dropped next to a row of four can create four two-letter words, and each of them is counted.
More than that: a premium square counts for every word formed on that turn. Place a tile on a double letter square where it is part of both a horizontal and a vertical word, and the letter is doubled in both. This is where hand calculations most often come out lower than the game's, and it is the arithmetic behind memorising the two-letter words.
Letters already on the board
Tiles that were already there score at face value. They do not bring their old premium squares with them, and the squares under them are spent. So a word that reuses four board letters and adds three of your own is scored as: your three tiles with whatever premiums they land on, plus the four existing tiles at plain value, and then any word multiplier your new tiles happen to cover.
Common questions
Is the fifty point bonus multiplied? No. Multipliers are applied to the word, and the bonus is added afterwards. A bingo across a triple word square is (word × 3) + 50.
Does a blank on a triple letter square score anything? No. Zero tripled is still zero. The blank does count towards the seven tiles for the bonus, which is usually worth far more than the letter would have been.
Why does my count differ from the app's? In order of how often it happens: a blank counted as a real letter, a cross-word missed, or a premium square that had already been used on an earlier turn.
Does this calculator know Words with Friends scoring? Not on this page — the tile values are different there, so it is a separate calculator with the WWF numbers and the thirty-five point bonus.