Words with Friends score calculator
Words with Friends uses different letter values from Scrabble and a different bonus for using all your tiles. Scoring it with Scrabble numbers gives the wrong answer every time.
What differs from Scrabble
- Letter values. Several letters are worth more or less than their Scrabble equivalents — the J is worth ten here, the L is worth two, the G is worth three. The full comparison is in letter values and tile distribution.
- The bonus for using all seven tiles is 35 points, not the 50 that Scrabble awards.
- The bag is different. There are more tiles in total, and the distribution of them is not the same, so what you can expect to draw differs too.
- The board layout differs. The premium squares sit in different places, so a move that lands on a triple word square in one game will not in the other.
The word list is different too
Words with Friends does not use a Scrabble dictionary. Its list grew from a different source and has its own additions, so a word being valid in one game tells you nothing reliable about the other. The calculator flags whether the word is in our database at all, and the dictionary shows you each list separately.
This catches people out constantly: a word learned from Scrabble study gets rejected in Words with Friends, or the other way round. If you play both, it is worth checking rather than assuming.
Same arithmetic, different numbers
The order of operations is the same as Scrabble: letter multipliers apply to individual tiles, then the word multiplier applies to the total, then the bonus for using all your tiles is added last. Blanks score zero and still count toward the bonus.
Thirty-five changes more than it looks
The smaller bonus quietly rewrites the strategy people bring from Scrabble. In Scrabble, holding a promising six tiles for a turn or two is often correct, because fifty points is worth more than two mediocre moves. Here the prize is thirty-five, and two ordinary moves can easily beat that.
The practical rule: in Words with Friends, take the points now more often. Chase the full rack only when you are one common letter away, not when you are hoping for two.
The letters that changed value
Twelve of the twenty six letters are worth a different number of points in the two games, and a few of the moves are large. The J is ten here against eight in Scrabble; the L, N and U are each worth double what Scrabble pays; the H and Y are worth less. A rack that feels strong from Scrabble habit can be quite ordinary here, and the reverse happens just as often.
The full side-by-side table is on the letter values page, and the Words with Friends finder already scores every result with WWF numbers, so you never have to convert in your head.
Common questions
Why does the game show a different total than I calculated? Almost always a cross-word. Every new word your tiles form on that turn scores, and a premium square under a tile counts for each word that tile belongs to.
Do the Swap+ tiles affect the score? No. They let you exchange tiles without losing your turn; they do not multiply anything, so they are not part of the arithmetic here.
Is the bonus multiplied by a word square? No, in either game. Multipliers apply to the word, then the bonus is added.
Can I score a word here that Scrabble would reject? Often, yes — and the reverse. Different list entirely: see which dictionary applies where.