JEMBE is valid in Collins, not in North America — 16 points
It depends on the list you play by. JEMBE 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 16 points. Words with Friends does not accept it either.
Which word lists accept JEMBE?
| 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: 49 / 100
Our own measure of how useful JEMBE is to know. It scores 16 from 5 tiles, takes 2 hooks, and its letters make up 5.8% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for JEMBE
Checked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How JEMBE scores
Face value of the 5 tiles in JEMBE, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| j | 1 | 1 |
| e | 2 | 12 |
| m | 1 | 2 |
| b | 1 | 2 |
Drawing exactly these 5 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 285,180.
What does JEMBE mean in Scrabble?
noun
music
A goblet-shaped hand drum, originally from West Africa, played with the bare hands.
A jembe has a carved wooden body shaped like a large goblet and a drumhead of stretched animal skin, producing a wide range of tones depending on where and how it is struck. It originated among the Mandinka people of West Africa and later spread worldwide through music education and percussion ensembles. Players typically hold it between the knees or on a stand while striking it with bare hands rather than sticks.
How JEMBE is used
Common in discussions of African percussion and in world music and drumming classes.
- The drummer warmed up the crowd with a fast jembe rhythm.
- She bought a small jembe as a souvenir from her trip.
- The workshop taught beginners basic jembe strokes.
- His hands were sore after an hour of playing the jembe.
- The ensemble combined jembe with other traditional instruments.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of JEMBE and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Words starting with JEMBE
1 longer words begin with JEMBE.
Words ending in JEMBE
1 words end in JEMBE. Useful as a back hook: play JEMBE onto a word already on the board.
Words with JEMBE inside
1 words contain JEMBE in the middle. Words that start with JEMBE are listed separately above, so nothing is repeated.
Shorter words from the letters in JEMBE
Common questions about JEMBE
- Is JEMBE valid in Words with Friends?
- No. Words with Friends keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries, and JEMBE is not in it.
- How many points is JEMBE worth?
- JEMBE is worth 16 points in Scrabble and 20 points in Words with Friends.
- What does JEMBE mean?
- A goblet-shaped hand drum, originally from West Africa, played with the bare hands.
- What letters can be added to JEMBE?
- JEMBE takes 2 hooks: 1 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 5 letters of JEMBE:
Open JEMBE in the Word Finder