ALAN is a valid Scrabble word — 4 points
Yes. ALAN is accepted by every list we check: Collins, the North American lists and Words with Friends. It scores 4 points in Scrabble and 6 in Words with Friends.
Which word lists accept ALAN?
| Official Scrabble Players DictionaryUSA, Canada, Thailand | Valid |
|---|---|
| Official Tournament and Club Word ListUSA, Canada, Thailand | Valid |
| Collins Scrabble WordsEnglish in most countries | Valid |
| Words with FriendsZynga word list | Valid |
Word power: 42 / 100
Our own measure of how useful ALAN is to know. It scores 4 from 4 tiles, takes 5 hooks, and its letters make up 7.0% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for ALAN
Checked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How ALAN scores
Face value of the 4 tiles in ALAN, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| a | 2 | 9 |
| l | 1 | 4 |
| n | 1 | 6 |
Drawing exactly these 4 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 4,538.
What stands out about ALAN
- The same 4 tiles also spell 3 other words, so the rack is worth re-reading before you play it.
Counted from the four word lists we hold, not taken from anywhere else. How we calculate things
What does ALAN mean in Scrabble?
noun
historical
A large, powerful hunting dog once used in medieval Europe, related to the mastiff and also known as an alaunt.
An alan was bred and trained to bring down large game and to guard property in medieval times, valued for its strength and heavy build. The name survives today mainly in historical writing about dog breeds and medieval hunting, alongside the variant forms aland and alant.
How ALAN is used
Historical term; encountered in writing about medieval hunting or the ancestry of modern mastiff-type dogs.
- The knight kept an alan to guard the manor gate at night.
- Medieval hunters used the powerful alan to bring down wild boar.
- The old manuscript described the alan as fierce but loyal.
- Breeders today trace some mastiffs back to the alan of earlier centuries.
- An alan accompanied the lord on every hunting expedition.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of ALAN and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Anagrams of ALAN
The 4 tiles of ALAN in a different order — 3 found.
Words starting with ALAN
16 longer words begin with ALAN.
Words ending in ALAN
5 words end in ALAN. Useful as a back hook: play ALAN onto a word already on the board.
Words with ALAN inside
Showing 24 of 139 words that contain ALAN somewhere in the middle. Words that start with ALAN are listed separately above, so nothing is repeated.
Shorter words from the letters in ALAN
Common questions about ALAN
- Is ALAN valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts ALAN, where it scores 6 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is ALAN worth?
- ALAN is worth 4 points in Scrabble and 6 points in Words with Friends.
- What does ALAN mean?
- A large, powerful hunting dog once used in medieval Europe, related to the mastiff and also known as an alaunt.
- What letters can be added to ALAN?
- ALAN takes 5 hooks: 0 in front and 5 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 4 letters of ALAN:
Open ALAN in the Word Finder