GAW is valid in Collins, not in North America — 7 points
It depends on the list you play by. GAW is in Collins, used in the UK and most of the world, but it is not in the North American lists — so in a US or Canadian game an opponent can challenge it off the board. Worth 7 points. Words with Friends does not accept it either.
Which word lists accept GAW?
| Official Scrabble Players DictionaryUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
|---|---|
| Official Tournament and Club Word ListUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
| Collins Scrabble WordsEnglish in most countries | Valid |
| Words with FriendsZynga word list | Not listed |
Word power: 45 / 100
Our own measure of how useful GAW is to know. It scores 7 from 3 tiles, takes 4 hooks, and its letters make up 4.7% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for GAW
Checked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How GAW scores
Face value of the 3 tiles in GAW, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| g | 1 | 3 |
| a | 1 | 9 |
| w | 1 | 2 |
Drawing exactly these 3 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 2,994.
What does GAW mean in Scrabble?
noun
dialectarchaic
An incomplete or partial rainbow, once taken as a sign of coming weather.
Country speakers used gaw for the broken, unfinished arcs sometimes seen in showery weather, distinct from a full rainbow. Because such marks were linked to changing skies, a gaw was read as an early warning that the weather was about to turn.
How GAW is used
A regional weather term, rarely heard outside older dialect speech.
- A pale gaw hung over the hills before the storm broke.
- Farmers watched the gaw and hurried the hay indoors.
- The shepherd pointed at the gaw and warned of rain.
- Only half the sky showed a gaw that afternoon.
- Old sailors trusted a gaw more than any forecast.
- Villagers said a gaw at dusk meant rain by morning.
- The children pointed excitedly at the faint gaw.
- A second gaw appeared briefly beside the first.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of GAW and 8 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Where else you’ll see GAW
- The word gaw is linked to old Northern English and Scandinavian dialect terms for streaks or gleams of light.
- Country weather lore treated a gaw as a weaker, less reliable sign than a full rainbow.
Anagrams of GAW
The 3 tiles of GAW in a different order — 1 found.
Words starting with GAW
Showing 24 of 39 words that begin with GAW.
Words ending in GAW
2 words end in GAW. Useful as a back hook: play GAW onto a word already on the board.
Words with GAW inside
12 words contain GAW in the middle. Words that start with GAW are listed separately above, so nothing is repeated.
Shorter words from the letters in GAW
Common questions about GAW
- Is GAW valid in Words with Friends?
- No. Words with Friends keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries, and GAW is not in it.
- How many points is GAW worth?
- GAW is worth 7 points in Scrabble and 8 points in Words with Friends.
- What does GAW mean?
- An incomplete or partial rainbow, once taken as a sign of coming weather.
- What letters can be added to GAW?
- GAW takes 4 hooks: 0 in front and 4 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 3 letters of GAW:
Open GAW in the Word Finder