Words with Q and no U

22 August 2026

The Q is the most expensive tile in the game and the one most likely to sit on your rack doing nothing. The way out is a short list: the words that use a Q without needing a U at all.

There are 93 of them in the dictionaries you have switched on, read from our word list as this page loaded. Change the selection in the word finder and the list follows.

Word	Scrabble	WWF	CSW	TWL	OSPD	WWF list
QI	11	11	yes	yes	yes	yes
COQ	14	15	no	no	no	yes
ESQ	12	12	no	no	no	yes
LOQ	12	13	no	no	no	yes
QAT	12	12	yes	yes	yes	yes
QGP	15	17	no	no	no	yes
QIN	12	13	yes	no	no	no
QIS	12	12	yes	yes	yes	yes
SEQ	12	12	no	no	no	yes
CINQ	15	17	yes	yes	yes	yes
FIQH	19	18	yes	no	no	yes
QADI	14	14	yes	yes	yes	yes
QAID	14	14	yes	yes	yes	yes
QATS	13	13	yes	yes	yes	yes
QINS	13	14	yes	no	no	no
QOPH	18	18	yes	yes	yes	yes
SEQQ	22	22	no	no	no	yes
WAQF	19	19	yes	no	no	yes
CINQS	16	18	yes	yes	yes	yes
FAQIR	17	17	yes	yes	yes	yes
FIQHS	20	19	yes	no	no	no
NIQAB	16	18	yes	yes	yes	yes
QADIS	15	15	yes	yes	yes	yes
QAIDS	15	15	yes	yes	yes	yes
QAJAQ	30	32	yes	yes	yes	no
QANAT	14	15	yes	yes	yes	yes
QAPIK	20	21	yes	yes	yes	no
QIBLA	16	18	yes	yes	yes	yes
QOPHS	19	19	yes	yes	yes	yes
QORMA	16	17	yes	no	no	no
TALAQ	14	15	yes	no	no	no
TRANQ	14	15	yes	yes	yes	yes
WAQFS	20	20	yes	no	no	no
FAQIRS	18	18	yes	yes	yes	yes
NIQAAB	17	19	yes	yes	yes	no
NIQABS	17	19	yes	yes	yes	yes
QABALA	17	19	yes	yes	yes	yes
QAJAQS	31	33	yes	yes	yes	no
QANATS	15	16	yes	yes	yes	yes
QAPIKS	21	22	yes	yes	yes	no
QASIDA	16	16	yes	no	no	no
QAWWAL	21	22	yes	no	no	yes
QIBLAH	20	21	no	no	no	yes
QIBLAS	17	19	yes	yes	yes	no
QIGONG	17	20	yes	yes	yes	yes
QINDAR	16	17	yes	yes	yes	yes
QINTAR	15	16	yes	yes	yes	yes
QORMAS	17	18	yes	no	no	no
QWERTY	21	20	yes	yes	yes	yes
SHEQEL	18	18	yes	yes	yes	yes
TALAQS	15	16	yes	no	no	no
TARIQA	15	15	no	no	no	yes
TRANQS	15	16	yes	yes	yes	yes
YAQONA	18	18	yes	no	no	no
INQILAB	18	21	yes	no	no	no
KAMOTIQ	22	23	yes	yes	yes	no
NIQAABS	18	20	yes	yes	yes	no
QABALAH	21	22	yes	yes	yes	no
QABALAS	18	20	yes	yes	yes	yes
QASIDAS	17	17	yes	no	no	no
QAWWALI	22	23	yes	yes	yes	yes
QAWWALS	22	23	yes	no	no	yes
QIGONGS	18	21	yes	yes	yes	no
QINDARS	17	18	yes	yes	yes	yes
QINTARS	16	17	yes	yes	yes	yes
QWERTYS	22	21	yes	yes	yes	yes
SHEQELS	19	19	yes	yes	yes	no
TSADDIQ	18	18	yes	no	no	no
TZADDIQ	27	27	yes	no	no	no
YAQONAS	19	19	yes	no	no	no
INQILABS	19	22	yes	no	no	no
KAMOTIQS	23	24	yes	yes	yes	no
MBAQANGA	22	26	yes	yes	yes	yes
QABALAHS	22	23	yes	yes	yes	no
QABALISM	21	24	yes	no	no	no
QABALIST	19	21	yes	no	no	no
QAIMAQAM	30	32	yes	no	no	no
QALAMDAN	20	23	yes	no	no	no
QAWWALIS	23	24	yes	yes	yes	no
QINDARKA	22	23	yes	yes	yes	yes
QINTARKA	21	22	yes	no	no	no
QWERTIES	20	20	yes	no	no	no
SHEQALIM	22	23	yes	yes	yes	yes
TSADDIQS	19	19	yes	no	no	no
TZADDIQS	28	28	yes	no	no	no
MBAQANGAS	23	27	yes	yes	yes	no
QABALISMS	22	25	yes	no	no	no
QABALISTS	20	22	yes	no	no	no
QAIMAQAMS	31	33	yes	no	no	no
QALAMDANS	21	24	yes	no	no	no
TSADDIQIM	22	23	yes	no	no	no
TZADDIQIM	31	32	yes	no	no	no
QABALISTIC	23	26	yes	no	no	no

Scores are for the tiles alone, before any premium square. The four right-hand columns are the word lists: a word can be perfectly good in Collins and challengeable in a North American tournament.

Why this list is worth an hour

One Q exists in the bag, it is worth ten points, and it is the tile most likely to be stranded. Holding it for three turns while waiting for a U costs more than the ten points will ever earn: you are effectively playing with six tiles while your opponent plays with seven.

Learning the Q-without-U words does two things. It gives you an exit when no U appears, and it lets you keep the Q deliberately — on a triple letter square a Q is thirty points before the word multiplier, so the tile everyone treats as a burden becomes the best one on the rack.

How to remember them

Most of the list falls into a few families, which is easier than memorising individual words:

QI and its extension QIS — by far the most useful, because two- and three-letter words fit anywhere. If you learn nothing else, learn these.
QAT, QADI, QAID and relatives — borrowings that start qa-.
QOPH, QANAT, QWERTY, NIQAB, TRANQ, SHEQEL — the odds and ends worth a second look in the table above, since which of them your game accepts depends on the list.

Watch the dictionary columns while you learn: several Q-without-U words are Collins-only, and playing one under a North American list is a lost turn rather than a clever move.

The other exit: a blank as the U

If the list fails you, a blank can stand in for the U. It is an expensive way to spend the most valuable tile in the bag, so it is a last resort rather than a plan — but a stuck Q at the end of the game is subtracted from your score, and ten points is a lot to hand over.

Type your rack plus a blank into the word finder and it will show you both options at once: what the Q can do alone, and what it can do with a blank behind it.

Common questions

Is QI really valid? Yes, in every list this site checks, and it is the single most useful word on this page — eleven points from two tiles, and it fits in gaps nothing else fits.

Why do some of these look like foreign words? Because they are borrowings, and word lists include borrowings that have entered English dictionaries. That is also why the lists disagree about them more than about ordinary vocabulary.

Should I hold the Q hoping for a U? Only if you have somewhere good to put it. Four U tiles exist in a Scrabble bag against one Q, so a U does usually arrive — but “usually” is not “this turn”, and turns are what you are spending.

What about Words with Friends? The Q is worth ten there too, but the word list is different — the WWF column above is the one to trust for that game, and the WWF finder scores with WWF values.