Scrabble vs Words with Friends: every difference that costs points
They look like the same game with different colours. They are not: the tiles are worth different amounts, the bag holds different letters, the bonus for using your whole rack is smaller, and the word list is a different list entirely.
Twelve letters are worth something else
12 of the twenty six letters carry a different value in the two games. This is the difference that costs the most, because it is invisible — the tile looks the same and scores differently.
| Letter | Scrabble | Words with Friends | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | 3 | 4 | +1 |
| C | 3 | 4 | +1 |
| G | 2 | 3 | +1 |
| H | 4 | 3 | -1 |
| J | 8 | 10 | +2 |
| L | 1 | 2 | +1 |
| M | 3 | 4 | +1 |
| N | 1 | 2 | +1 |
| P | 3 | 4 | +1 |
| U | 1 | 2 | +1 |
| V | 4 | 5 | +1 |
| Y | 4 | 3 | -1 |
Read the pattern rather than the rows. The letters that gained value in Words with Friends are ordinary consonants — B, C, G, L, M, N, P, U, V — which means cheap tiles are worth more there and the gap between a good rack and a bad one is narrower. The two that lost value, H and Y, are exactly the tiles Scrabble players overvalue when they switch.
The bag is a different bag
Words with Friends deals from 104 tiles; Scrabble from 100. The extra tiles are not spread evenly:
| Letter | In Scrabble | In WWF |
|---|---|---|
| D | 4 | 5 |
| E | 12 | 13 |
| H | 2 | 4 |
| I | 9 | 8 |
| N | 6 | 5 |
| S | 4 | 5 |
| T | 6 | 7 |
More of a letter means you draw it more often, and so does your opponent. The extra S and the extra T matter most: S is the best hook in either game, and a fifth one in the bag changes how freely you should spend it.
The bonus is 35, not 50
Using all seven tiles scores fifty extra points in Scrabble and thirty-five in Words with Friends. That single number rewrites the strategy people carry over.
In Scrabble, holding a promising six tiles for a turn or two is often correct: fifty points beats two mediocre moves. At thirty-five, two ordinary moves can beat the wait. Take the points sooner here, and chase the full rack only when you are one common letter away.
Different word list, and it is not a smaller Scrabble list
Words with Friends does not use a Scrabble dictionary. Its list descends from ENABLE, a public-domain word list, with thousands of Zynga's own additions and removals on top. So a word being valid in one game genuinely tells you nothing about the other — in both directions.
The practical consequence: study done for Scrabble transfers only partly, and the familiar frustration of a rejected word usually means you are playing the other list. Every word page here answers per list, and which dictionary applies where explains who publishes each one.
The board is laid out differently too
Both boards are fifteen by fifteen, but the premium squares sit in different places. The intuition you build about where the triple word squares are — and therefore which lanes are dangerous to open — does not transfer. Look at the board before applying Scrabble habits to it.
Which tool to use for which game
- Scrabble word finder — Scrabble tiles, and your choice of the four word lists.
- Words with Friends cheat — WWF tiles, WWF list, no dictionary switch because the game does not offer one.
- Scrabble calculator and WWF calculator — same arithmetic, different numbers.
Common questions
Is Words with Friends just Scrabble with a different name? Legally and mechanically, no. Different publisher, different tile values, different bag, different board, different word list. The family resemblance is real; the numbers are not shared.
Which game is easier? Words with Friends is more forgiving: it rejects an invalid word instead of letting you play it and be challenged, and its cheaper tiles narrow the gap between players.
Can I use a Scrabble word list to study for WWF? Partly. The common core overlaps heavily, so short-word study transfers well. The edges — borrowings, slang, inflected forms — are where the lists diverge, and those are exactly the words people argue about.
Do the two games score cross-words the same way? Yes. In both, every new word your tiles form scores, and a premium square counts for each word the tile belongs to on the turn it is placed.